A Magus Among Ninjas
by Parcasious
Summary: I had lived my life chasing after my ideals, striving to become an ally of justice. Now that I'm here, wherever here is, I don't intend to change that, for it's my only path. -Rated T for now, may change to M later.
1. Chapter 1

A battle will only end with a winner and a loser. Often times, the one's who lose most are those caught in between. Yet all, be it the winner, or the loser, will lose something important to them, whether it's a part of themselves, or a person more precious to them than the world. So why then is it that mankind continues to fight, to wage war, and do battle? Why do battles continue to occur? Why can't people put aside their individual differences and strive for a method of peace?

Time and time again, I have saved countless people caught in between war zones. Time and time again, those who I had saved lost to the hatred and enacted revenge towards those who wronged them. Regardless, I still continue to save them, for saving people is never wrong; it is what an ally of justice would do. Even as I lay here battered, wounded and dying, I have no regrets.

It had been several years ago when I was a child that I remember slowly trudging through a flaming wasteland, ignoring all the disembodied pleas for help. The buildings, cars, roads, anything the eye could see, were burning. Half charred corpses littered the area, their gaunt expressionless faces piercing dagger like holes on my back. Yet, I continued to trudge on, not caring, slowly losing parts of myself that even I didn't know about.

I became an empty husk, hollow was my mind, and my strength had all but left me. I had not known when my knees gave out on me causing me to plummet to the ground, perhaps it was when I realized I could no longer continue forward through the use of my legs. But, I continued on, pulling myself forward through the use of my arms.

Ash covered my body wherever I went, slowly coating me in a fine layer of black. It had taken a minute or two for my mind to process, to comprehend, that I was no longer moving, slowly becoming another corpse by the road. It was then that I gave up. My legs would not move, my arms too tired to lift; if I were to die, then so be it.

I had blacked out by that point, but occasionally I gained back consciousness. It was on one of these occasions that a black haired man in a trench coat appeared before me, crying. He pulled me into a tight hug, all the while smiling a radiant smile, as if he was the happiest man in the world. That smile, that happiness, could I have it I began to wonder. He set me down back on the hard ground, and did something to me that caused the numbness and pain in my body to dissipate. I later found out that what he did would save me time, and time again.

As the pain and numbness left me, fatigue and drowsiness began to take its toll on me. I looked up at the man still sporting that radiant smile, and little did I know that this memory would later become one of the greatest supports to my ideals.

The man took me in, clothed me, gave me a place to call home, and gave me a name, Shirou Emiya-for I no longer had one. In time, the man, Kiritsugu Emiya, became my role model, my hero, and above all, my father. We lived in relative peace, and often times I would be the one doing all the house chores because of a sickness that seemed to plague Kiritsugu. But that didn't stop him from going for his monthly trips to Russia from Fuyuki City. He never told me why, but I would later find out.

I had grown accustomed to our daily life, becoming somewhat of a master chef in cooking; never once failing to draw the attention of one Taiga Fujimura as I began to set plates of food down. Taiga first began to frequent our home when her grandfather Raiga Fujimura brought her along to a friendly gathering between him and Kiritsugu. Not long after, she began frequenting our home. It wasn't a surprise to me when I began to start setting extra plates on the dinner table as a habit.

It was when I was seven, or eight that I discovered the existence of magecraft from Kiritsugu. I expressed interest in the art, but Kiritsugu was adamant in his refusals. Eventually though, he began teaching me the basics of the basics of magic, however little it was. Sadly, he died a few years later from the unknown sickness that plagued him.

On the day of Kiritsugu's death he had told me of his dream to become a "Hero of Justice"- a person who could save everyone. And I wholeheartedly agreed. His ideal, his dream, became my own. I would become a hero, an ally of justice that saves everyone. For my life, a life that disregarded the lives of others, when compared to anothers, can never be greater than theirs. Though I was sad and frustrated with his death, there was nothing I could do.

As the years went by without Kiritsugu, I continued to practice mage craft in secret, as well as help those in need of help; later getting the nickname "fake school janitor" from those around me. It was in the first year of high school that I met a girl named Sakura Matou, and befriended her. Sakura is a purple haired girl who is normally seen wearing the Fuyuki High school uniform. She has been visiting my house ever since our first meeting.

It was on the start of my second year of high school that I was dragged into a war in every sense of the word. The Holy Grail War, a war where seven servants are summoned by seven masters to fight with them in a life or death battle for a wish granting grail. The servants summoned were each put into specific class types, Archer, Saber, Rider, Caster, Berserker, Lancer, and Assassin; each formidable in their own right.

My start to the war had not been pretty. Then again, a spear through the heart never is, but I was saved, saved by none other than Rin Tohsaka, a master in the upcoming war. She wore a red sweater, a short skirt, black stockings, and has black hair tied up in pigtails. Had she known that I would later become another master, she might not have saved me, but in the end, she did. I summoned servant saber not long after.

After many battles and skirmishes, I discovered Sabers true name. Arturia Pendragon, better known as King Arthur, but instead of a he, it was a she. It was around this time that I also discovered Rin's servant, archer's true identity. I had not believed a word of what that imposter had said. Saving people is never wrong, my ideals are not just borrowed; to me, they are my own. Some how, someway, I was able to convince Archer of my ideals during a duel between him and I.

Over the course of the war, many hidden mysteries came to light. For instance, the reason Kiritsugu would often leave for Russia, the reason why he died, and the precious artifact he placed inside of me.

Illyasviel von Einzbern, Kiritsugu's biological daughter, was the cause of Kiritsugu's frequent trips to Russia. He was trying to obtain her from the Einzbern's, but couldn't locate the area. Even if he had, Kiritsugu had grown weak, no longer in his prime, mostly due to the deterioration of his magic circuits. Being as magic circuits are what generate the prana needed to perform a magus's mysteries, it can be concluded that Kiritsugu wouldn't have had enough strength to rescue Illya; since prana is the energy used to actualize a magus's mysteries.

The deterioration of his magic circuits caused by the curse of the Holy Grail is what ultimately killed Kiritsugu. Though magic circuits are akin to a magus's capacity to perform mysteries, there is something even more important. Magic circuits reside within the magus's soul, and the body is only a physical expression of them that stretches throughout the body in a way similar to the nervous system. Since the body is only a physical expression of a magus's magic circuits, the deterioration of them would be fatal.

What Kiritsugu gave to me on the day of the great fire as I lay on the ash covered ground was none other than Avalon, the scabbard of Excalibur. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to summon Saber in time to save my life from Lancer, the servant of the lance. It has healed me time and time again from the gravest of injuries, from deep laceration on my chest, to being stabbed right through the torso. It seemed that even in death, Kiritsugu could still save me.

The war ended after I battled the strongest servant of the Holy Grail War, Gilgamesh, the king of heroes, and king of Uruk. I went into battle against him alone, and servantless, while Rin and Saber who was now Rin's servant after our encounter with Caster, rescued my former friend Shinji Matou. If not for Rin making a contract with me to give me mana, the use of my reality marble, and Archer's timely intervention, I wouldn't have won against Gilgamesh.

The fight with Gilgamesh also proved invaluable to my dream to become an ally of justice, due to the use of structural grasping, projection, and reinforcement. These spells, though they are the only ones I can cast, led me to my own form of magecraft, Tracing. I had discovered this skill during my fight with Caster.

Tracing, a higher form of projection magic that completely copies everything regarding the creation and existence of the object; letting me create near perfect copies of the originals as well as copy the moves of its previous owners. Gilgamesh's treasury, his "Gates of Babylon" provided me a multitude of weaponry. All of them stored into my reality marble, the "Unlimited Blade Works" after a single glance.

At the end of the war, Saber stayed with Rin and I, maintaining corporal form due to her contract with Rin. Rin being the aspiring magus that she was decided to join the Clock Tower in Europe after graduating from Fuyuki High school, bringing Saber and I with her. Life in the Clock Tower wasn't so bad, aside from being looked down upon by those who believed us to be inferior because of our Asian descent; still though, life continued as usual.

Over the years, I grew to love Saber, and Rin, just as much as I loved helping others. It was nearly a decade later that we became a happy couple, even going as far as to have kids on the way. More often than not though, we found ourselves separated due to our fields of work. I might not have told you yet, but I am a third rate magus whose only note worthy skill is in the field of projection, and not much else. This being the case, I was more suited to being an enforcer while Rin and saber worked most of the day in the Clock Tower.

It was during my duties as an enforcer that I began to see the evil in the world. It was here that I began to understand what Archer had meant about the impossibility of my ideals, but unlike Archer, I would never give up on them. To do so would be betraying myself, and denying one of my reasons to live. So I continued to save those that needed saving, to save those who couldn't save themselves.

I have walked through countless battlefields, saving as many lives as I can, be they a victim of war, or a supernatural occurrence. All battlefields that I have crossed had one thing in common; the victims who I had saved were consumed in hatred and took revenge on those they believed to have wronged them. As a result, the loved ones of those that they had taken revenge on, in turn, took revenge back, creating a never ending cycle of pain. Still though, I don't regret saving those lives.

As of a few hours ago, I had been battling a dead apostle, allies fleeing in fear of their lives, leaving me to fight alone. It had been a random mission, to check up on a sealing designate gone rogue in northern Italy. The sealing designate in particular was a man that I defeated and brought to the Clock Tower as a direct order from the head enforcer. Apparently, the man, to further his own mysteries, experimented on young kids, and teenagers, nearly revealing the existence of magic in the process. He was swiftly captured and brought to the Clock Tower. Whatever the Clock Tower discovered about his magecraft couldn't have been good if it was serious enough to warrant him to become a sealing designate.

The mission had been going well, until the sealing designate himself showed up, laughing hysterically, all the while proclaiming to the night skies, that it was complete. I was the first to engage the man, tracing Kanshou and Bakuya as I reinforced my body using reinforcement. The man didn't even try to move as I slashed at him. If possible, the man laughed even harder upon seeing me, disregarding the new deep and open laceration on his chest. Not a second later, the man fell face first onto the ground, fingers spontaneously twitching. I had thought that things would end there, but I was wrong. No sooner than when I had turned around, a hand pierced through my chest, just barely missing my heart.

The others instantly went into action, years of experience dictating where they positioned themselves. As for me, I made distance as soon as I felt the sharp pain of the man retracting his hand from my chest. I shouldn't have been so careless; I should have made sure that the man was dead before turning around. Was it because I didn't wish to look at the 'dead body' any longer than I had to? Or was it something else entirely, but these were questions for another time.

Quickly, I rushed at the man, while the others were preparing their various combat spells. I made for a horizontal slash with Kanshou, but the man simply took a wide step back, managing to avoid the sharp end of the blade. I continued to hack, slash, and pierce, but he was somehow dodging everything; all the while my blood poured out of me like a fountain.

Suddenly he did something very peculiar. He ran a steady hand over the area were my blood stained his clothing and brought it to his mouth, revealing a set of elongated fangs. 'Dead Apostle' was the thought in everyone's minds, but how can that be possible? I'm a hundred percent certain that he was human the last time I brought him in, unless...his magecraft!

It's no wonder that he got designated; his research was about becoming a Dead Apostle. If he did in fact, become a Dead Apostle then this situation is not to my advantage. My chest is still bleeding profusely, and not even Avalon can heal it fast enough for me to fight. Regardless, I will fight to save my comrades.

The only advantage in this situation is that the man just became a Dead Apostle, meaning that he shouldn't be all that strong since he doesn't have multiple years of experience to back his magecraft. Still though, Dead Apostles are nothing to laugh at. They still possess inhuman physical abilities, and are hard to kill.

I was wrong. I was wrong to assume that the man's magecraft was weak. With one incantation, the man obliterated half of our forces, the rest were injured to a small degree. Many of the ones who died were the more experienced enforcers, leaving behind most of the inexperienced rookies. Those rookies, easily panicked, began to flee. And this is where I was presently, fighting alone, with an injury that could prove fatal.

I had discovered from the man's first use of his magecraft that he could not cast it without gaining sufficient room between himself and his targeted opponent. Perhaps it was because he didn't want to be caught up in his own spell. So I engaged him in close quarters combat, his vampire claws and reflexes managing to land significant blows on me. I had tried using various noble phantasms to put the man down, but it seems another part of his magecraft involved reversing time on certain parts of his body to heal injuries. Injured and bleeding, I realized there was only one possible way to win with minimal loss of life to the surrounding area.

"**I am the bone of my sword**." I began, as I stopped channeling prana to Avalon, and directed it towards the projection of my reality marble; my twenty seven magic circuits coming to life, generating the prana needed to actualize my reality. It had been Sabers idea for me to keep the scabbard after I returned home from an Apostle hunt badly wounded, but now that I think about it, it's probably what's been keeping me alive.

"**Steel is my body and fire is my blood**." The Dead Apostle stopped laughing, looking at me closely.

"**I have created over a thousand blades**." I traced Kanshou and Bakuya, and threw them in an arc towards the Apostle, quickly creating another copy and throwing those as well.

"**Unaware of loss, nor aware of gain**." I engaged the Apostle with another pair of Kanshou and Bakuya, keeping him on the retreat as the multiple copies of Kanshou and Bakuya began to converge on him. I jumped high into the air, the full moon at my back.

"**Withstood pain to create weapons, waiting for ones arrival**." I flooded Kanshou and Bakuya with prana, far surpasing the amount the blades could hold. As a result it became unstable, broken, becoming twice the size of its original form. Feather like splinters cover the blades from ridge to edge, giving the impression of wings.

"**I have no regrets. This is the only path**." I began my descent, swinging Kanshou and Bakuya down in a wide arc as the other copies converged on the Apostle at the very same moment. An ear deafening explosion sends small ripples through the ground of Northern Italy, yet it was still not enough. The Apostle, though only his torso and head were left, simply reversed time on himself to time were his injuries were non-existent.

"**My whole life was...Unlimited Blade Works**." Fire shot out around me, consuming me, my opponent, and everything in its path. In its wake, the world was now surrounded by endless swords; be they legendary, nameless, or ordinary weaponry. The sky, though it appeared normal, is a fiery orange in color. The only other structure to be found is a lone hill out near the horizon. This is my reality marble, a reflection of my inner world, my soul brought to life.

"How can this be? For you just a mere human to have a reality marble, it's absurd!" The Apostle shouted, no longer was he laughingly enjoying the moment. "Only a few could ever hope of achieving such a mystery, yet you, you, How!?"

"I'm distorted." I began focusing on the creation and projection of famed noble phantasms, and nameless weapons. The open space behind me soon began to fill with ominous weaponry, my creation not just limited to swords. Spears, axes, halberds, lances, shields, and other weapons of the sort began filling the air behind me. Some cursed by blood, and others the holiest of weaponry.

It had been Rin who flat out informed me of my distortion in the middle of a battle field, frustrated that I took yet another blow meant for her. "Why can't you ever think about yourself?" She had said while calling Saber over to increase Avalon's regenerative rate. At the time my brain wasn't functioning as well as it should have due to the loss of blood, and I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "My life is not worth yours, Saber's, or any others."

They had looked at me in disbelief and outrage at my clear lack of self preservation. They had tried valiantly afterwards to correct my way of thinking, only for me to deny them because it was who I am. Finally, Rin looked me in the eyes and said with a hint of regret and sorrow, that I am distorted; Later making me promise her and Saber one thing, "Don't die".

"Trace on, continues fire!" Noble phantasms and weapons of all kinds poured down on the Apostle in a never ending barrage of steel, the noise resembling the sound of a hammer striking nails. When the sounds of cursing could no longer be heard, I stopped firing to maintain what little prana I had left.

"Do you really think that I would simply die? Fool, no longer am I just a mere mortal, no, I have transcended into a higher being, a Dead Apostle." He lunged at me, his vampire claws primed to rip out my throat. I proceeded by side stepping to the right and smashing a reinforced fist to his face, sending him flying a long distance away. Suddenly he started laughing again, and in a moment of clarity I realized why. He was far enough away to utilize his strongest mystery.

No sooner than I had managed to process my grave error, he actualized his mystery. Raising both of his arms into the air, he began to chant a strange rhythmic incantation. The air around him began to distort as pure prana was generated into a giant sphere forming directly above him. The sphere was massive, at least as large as a house, but it had yet to stop. Strange runes began to encircle the growing sphere, glowing in an eerie red light.

As the runes finished encircling the sphere-which was now double of its previous size, it began pulsing blue light. Each pulse compressed the prana sphere smaller and smaller; making the prana denser and denser, stopping when the sphere became baseball sized. Almost as soon as it had the Apostle grabbed it from the air, and threw it straight at me.

Reacting more on instinct than logical reasoning, I projected Rho Aias, and flooded the seven petal shield with as much prana as possible. The attack struck Rho Aias and exploded on impact. The force of the explosion was so great that it reduced the seven petal shield to a mere two petals. My ribs had all but broken as the the third petal was penetrated; next came my left thai, followed by my left arm and kidney, yet I still remained standing. I had to end this fast.

"Enkidu!" Golden chains suddenly sprouted from behind the Apostle, binding him in place, but it would not hold for very long. Quickly taking action I traced my strongest noble phantasm; one with enough power to annihilate the Apostle to prevent him from utilizing his mystery to heal himself. After a glimpse of the sword the Apostle tried even harder to break out of the chains, channeling as much prana as he can into his limbs. Raising the sword up I invoked its holy name as I swung it down.

"Excalibur!" A beam of pure holy light erupted from the tip of the sword, straight towards the bound Apostle, taking with it all of my remaining prana. The Apostle, bound and helpless was consumed in its holy light, leaving behind nothing but empty ground.

Excalibur, the sword of promised victory wielded by Arturia Pendragon, better known as King Arthur, is my strongest noble phantasm. Although I can trace Excalibur its power is nothing compared to the originals, but even a portion of Excalibur's power is destructive enough to destroy almost anything.

All around me, cracks began to appear on the far reaches of my reality marble as I fell in and out of consciousness from my position on the ground. I had swiftly fallen as the last of my prana was used during my attack, and I did not have the energy to get up. Injured and severely bleeding with no prana to increase Avalon's regenerative rate, I lay dying; remembering the path that brought me here. I felt a presence approaching my location.

"You do not have to die mortal." said a voice from above me. "You can still realize your dream to become an ally of justice." I looked up from where I lay to see nothing but my crumbling reality marble.

"Who are you?" I looked around for the source of the voice.

"I go by many names Shirou Emiya, but most call me Alaya, or the will of humanity." The voice came from nowhere, but at the same time everywhere. When it seemed like I pinpointed the location of the voice, the voice would sound from a different location.

"What do you want with me?"

"Want I want from you, Shirou Emiya, is to come to an agreement, a contract of sorts."

"Will I still be able to save people, to become a hero of justice?"

"That, and whatever you wish, but know that you will serve under me as a counter guardian after your death."

I thought it over. On one hand I could continue to pursue my dream, my ideal, but on the other hand an image of Archer came to mind. A man who turned his back on his ideals after countless years as a counter guardian.

"I'm sorry, but I decline your offer." I don't know why I declined; perhaps it was due to the efforts of Rin and Saber, or my extreme revoltion to becoming anything remotely similar to Archer. Ultimately though, I chose to die rather than continue to save people. I wonder if Rin and Saber would ever find out that their efforts paid off enough that in the end I chose to die.

"I see, that's too bad, you would have been a wonderful edition to my counter guardians." Alaya said before Alaya's presence could no longer be felt.

"So this is it huh? At least I died saving others, following my ideals through till the end." My body began to go numb, and the constant pain of my injuries could no longer be felt. "I'm sorry Rin, Saber, and to my unborn children. I broke the only promise I swore...never to...b-break."

I died on a hill of swords. My body matted with numerous injuries, and covered in pool of my own blood; My red turning white hair covered in dirt and grime.

* * *

><p>I had believed that death would lead to an end, but not a beginning. I was in, from what I could tell, was a black void. My movement was restricted, my senses far from good. I could hear noises, but they were too muffled to comprehend. Subconsciously, I began to reinforce my body for fear of danger. No sooner than I had, I realized that I could feel a secondary energy forming inside me; prompting me to use structural grasping on myself.<p>

What I had discovered left me confused and reeling. Though my magic circuits and mentality were still the same, my body was replaced with the body of an infant. Judging from my restricted limbs and lack of sight, it was safe to say that I was still in the womb. Time had an odd way of passing in the womb, I could not even tell whether a day had passed or not.

Often times I entertained myself by practicing using my prana, and toying with the strange new energy. The more I had used the new energy the larger it seemed to have become. Curious I decided to experiment with reinforcing myself with it, remarkably, it worked; causing me to try various other experiments with it, making it grow even larger. I would have to remind myself to try tracing with it when I would inevitably leave the womb.

I don't know how much time had passed, but something had begun to happen. The walls of the womb, which I had taken to feeling occasionally, began to apply pressure on me; changing the position of my body. Suddenly the walls around me squeezed, pushing me out of the womb; each squeeze pushing me further and further out. The pressure was suffocating, if not for me reinforcing my body, I could of died before I even got out.

As I was released from my nine month home, I was assaulted by the coldness of the outside air, but I was promptly wrapped up in a blanket. There was a flurry of activity occurring around me, but my eyes had not yet developed enough to see. My pudgy arms and legs felt heavy and hard to move, but I was slightly able to twitch my fingers, if only even a little. In my situation, I couldn't help but feel defenseless. From the way people were talking, I assumed I was born in Japan, but I would later know otherwise.

Abruptly I got the idea to try and reinforce my eyes. Even though I reinforced them, everything around me was still a blur, aside from things that were relatively close to me. From my position in the blanket I could only look up at the ceiling, the occasional arm passing through my line of sight. A red haired woman soon picked me up and held me in a cradle, tucking my face gently onto her shoulder; taking me to someplace else.

"It's a boy Shizuka-sama." Said the woman carrying me as she handed me over to another woman sitting up on a bed.

"Thank you Tsuki." said Shizuka as she positioned me on her lap. I took a moment to look and observe her face as much as my reinforced eyes would let me. She had vibrant red hair left untamed to cascade down her back and a violet pair of eyes. It was when her mouth opened to form a tender smile that I realized that she was the one who gave birth to me, my mother. I had mixed feelings on this. I don't recall ever having a mother and it felt strange to suddenly have one, but at the same time, I basked in the feeling of love washing over me.

"What will you name him?"

"Give me a moment, this is a very important question." My mother raised me to her face rubbing her cheek against mine, and finally she looked at me. "Shirou, he shall be named Shirou. Shirou Uzumaki."

"Thats a lovely name Shizuka-sama." Tsuki began writing on something

"I know right, it's a great name. Speaking of which, why do you still refer to me as "sama" you know I'm not one for honorifics."

"It is only right to refer to the main family as "sama"." The sound of a door bursting open catches my attention. Without warning a young red haired girl jumps into my line of vision, smiling brightly.

"Kushina! behave yourself. Your mother needs rest." said a masculine voice from the direction of the opened door.

"Buuut toouu-san, I just wanted to see if what you said about babies being born from a kiss is true, since you and kaa-san kiss a lot." said Kushina as she pouted in front of me. "And I wanted to meet my new brother born from a kiss!"

"So now do you believe that babies are born from kisses?"

"Yes!"

"So now do you understand to never kiss a boy until he has proven himself to me, or I approve of him?"

"Yes tou-san. I understand." Kushina nodded resolutely.

My mother began laughing, the vibrations from her chest sending a warm feeling through my infant body. "That's enough Toma, no need to confuse Kushina with your jokes." She said between giggles.

"Oh no, I most definitely was not joking." Toma said sternly. "Speaking of which, what did you name our boy?"

"Shirou, Shirou Uzumaki."


	2. Uzushiogakure

Shizuka Uzumaki is the granddaughter of the current Clan Head of the Uzumaki clan, and Jounin of Uzushiogakure, the Village Hidden in the Whirlpool. She has round-violet eyes, arching eyebrows, an oval shaped face with high cheek bones, and a radiant smile that highlights her facial features. She is normally seen wearing the dark blue Jounin flak jacket of Uzushiogakure along with combat pants, but today she is in a simple blue dress. Shizuka is often described as eccentric and air headed by those around her, but they also say that she is the one who enlivens Uzushiogakure with her antics. Currently, she is standing in front of her husband's study

"Toma." she said.

"Yes?" said Toma Uzumaki from his study; a room packed full of fuinjutsu scrolls and Uzumaki clan jutsu.

Toma Uzumaki is the husband of Shizuka Uzumaki, and also a Jounin of Uzushiogakure. He has long red bangs that cover his left gold-colored eye, leaving the other out for display. Possessing an angular face and average build, he's often described as handsom by other Uzumaki woman. He is a man who cares greatly for his family, and will gladly lay his life down for them; He is also very respectful towards his superiors. Today he is wearing a brown colored yukata as he sorts through the papers in his study. He was doing so, until his wife came in.

"Do you think sending Kushina to Konoha was the right thing to do?" Shizuka grabbed the hem of her blue dress by the entrance of the study; her face set into a worried frown.

"To be honest, no, but we had no other choice. Mito-sama is growing old and Kushina's special chakra makes her the best candidate to contain the Kyuubi; the only other candidate being Shirou." Toma clenched his fists as he remembered that he had let Kushina go to Konoha to be the new jinchuriki of the Kyuubi.

Hideki, the Clan Head of the Uzumaki clan had been the one to decide that Kushina would be sent to Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Not just on behalf of the mutual friendship shared between Uzushiogakure and Konoha, but because of logical reasoning as well. The Uzumaki were known for their durability, high chakra capacities, high healing rate, and long lives. It was for this reason that Uzushiogakure is also known as the Village of Longevity, its Clan Head living for over a century. Not as well known to the common folk though is there esteemed bloodline. One said to possess the power to hold back even tailed beasts. This is simply because not many Uzumaki's gain it.

Chakra chains, is the name most Uzumaki associate the bloodline with. Golden chains made of chakra durable enough to restrain even the strongest of adversaries. Defensively, they are near impenetrable when the user surrounds themselves with them. When used offensively however, they are strong enough to damage Hashirama Senju's "Wood Release" techniques, and rival his "Wood Release: Several Thousand Hands." Despite its obvious uses of attack, restrain and defend, there is something more prominent to the chains when used in conjunction with an Uzumaki.

The Uzumaki are also known for their renowned fuinjutsu, or sealing techniques, that are versatile enough to work in all terrain. An Uzumaki possessing the ability to use chakra chains can create massive fuinjutsu seals using the durable chain to act as the fine strokes and brushes that make up a fuinjutsu seal. Coupled with creating devastating attacks, near impenetrable defense, and restraining ability, an Uzumaki proficient with chakra chains is to be feared on the battle field.

Kushina Uzumaki, born from Toma and Shizuka Uzumaki, is the first Uzumaki born with the ability to use chakra chains in the past few decades; making her the most suitable container for the Kyuubi, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox. There are others who possess the chakra chains within Uzushiogakure, but they are already well into their sixties, or eighties, an age not suitable to hold a tailed beast. Still though, Hideki had decided that there is yet another candidate to hold the Kyuubi. That candidate being Shirou Uzumaki, first born son of Toma and Shizuka Uzumaki.

"Shirou was a candidate! What is Ojii-san thinking, making 'our' baby a candidate to be the host of the Kyuubi." Shizuka said, maternal instincts still running high. "It was bad enough that he sent his own great granddaughter to Konoha to be a jinchuriki, but now you're telling me he also considered sending Shirou!"

"You shouldn't talk about your grandfather in that tone; he's the Clan Head after all." Said Toma, although inside he felt the same way his wife is feeling.

"Clan Head or not, the next time I see that senile old geezer he better be prepared for the worst punishment of his life-Dattebayaro!" Shizuka no longer seemed to be as worried about Kushina as her mind went elsewhere.

Toma Uzumaki sweat dropped as his wife began describing ways to enact her revenge; her long vibrant red hair rising behind her as her chakra became visible.

"Shizuka dear, I think you need to calm down and consider your grandfather's point of view." Toma said grudgingly

Shizuka gasped while looking at her red haired, straight faced husband. "Don't tell me you actually agree with him!? You do don't you; Oh cruel world, why do you continue to turn my family against me, why!" She looked at Toma straight in the face, waiting for him to admit his mistake, but Toma didn't say anything. "WWHHYYY!" She tried again with no result. "WWH-"

"Shizuka please no more." Toma cut in before his eccentric wife could escalate things further. "You know as well as I do that I would never willingly put my children in a position of harm." Toma got up, and walked over to the fuinjutsu reinforced stationary window; providing him a panoramic view of Uzushiogakure. "I was just trying to explain your grandfather's reasoning."

"What possible reason could he have to consider sending Shirou to be the new jinchuriki of the Kyuubi."

"His chakra." Toma said contemplatively.

"What does his chakra have to do with anything?"

"You and I may not have noticed, but on the day Shirou was born, your grandfather, Hideki-sama came to visit him. Hideki-sama as we both already know is a master at sensing chakra. What he discovered that day will go down in Uzumaki clan history as the day an Uzumaki was born with as much chakra as a Chunin level ninja of our village. Even more so when Hideki-sama discovered that Shirou has the innate ability to manipulate chakra.

"Innate ability?" Shizuka placed a finger to her chin, taking up a thinking pose.

"Yes. Based on what Hideki-sama personally witnessed; Shirou was reinforcing himself with chakra, and another unknown source of energy. Do you remember during the birthing process when Shirou got stuck, and the medic ninja said that his chance of survival was bleak? Hideki-sama believes that Shirou survived because of his body's innate ability to use chakra; his body reinforcing itself to preserve his life. Spe-"

"That's my boy! I knew I just knew he would be destined for greatness!" Shizuka interrupted Toma, her face adorning a dazzling smile. "I can't wait to rub it in Shibazaki-sans face! But seriously though Toma, I don't care for the details, just be frank with me and tell me the reason." Shizuka walked up to Toma, hands by her hips.

Toma sighed, running a hand down his face as his wife ignored the important details like she did with most important matters. He loved his wife, that he did, but would it be too much to ask for whatever god is out there listening to give her a little bit of common sense. A flying seagull takes a shit and smears the window Toma was looking through in a remarkable mixture of brown and white. _No_, Toma thought seriously, _those bastards probably enjoy my torment_.

"The reason Shizuka, is because Shirou's chakra coils are still under-developed, but is already almost double the size of a regular chakra coil. The larger the chakra coil, the larger the chakra capacity, meaning that Shirou would have an easier time dealing with a bijuu's chakra due to his high chakra capacity."

"But why are Shirou's chakra coils so large?"

"Hideki-sama and I speculate that it's because of his innate chakra ability manifesting itself within Shirou as he was in your womb; Shirou's innate ability acting as a chakra control exercise, to increase his overall chakra."

Time seemed to slow down for Toma Uzumaki as he waited patiently for his wife to take in what was just said. "So, do you have anything you want to say?" Toma asked as roughly thirty seconds passed by.

"Yes. Yes, in fact I do. I don't give a damn about Ojii-san's reasoning. I would never approve of turning a baby into a jinchuriki, even more so when it comes to Shirou, our year old baby. It's inhuman to force the burden of hosting a bijuu on babies simply because they aren't old enough to get a choice in the matter. I only let Kushina go to Konoha because she decided to do so in honor of our clan. Our son however wouldn't have had a choice." said Shizuka, showing off her more serious side. "But if there's one thing I know for sure," Shizuka heaves in a large breath. "Our son is a B-"

A flurry of leaves interrupts Shizuka before she can inadvertently ruin the moment she had created.

"Shizuka-sama, Toma-sama; Hideki-sama, wishes to speak with you " Tsuki said, as she finished her body flicker jutsu.

Tsuki is a Chunin level kunoichi of Uzushiogakure. She has narrow-brown colored eyes, arching eyebrows, and has her red hair swept to her left side. Currently she is wearing the standard light blue Uzushiogakure Chunin flak jacket and combat pants with a kunai holster strapped to her right leg. Tsuki was raised by parents who believed in respect and honor above all other things, causing her to develop the same mentality. When Toma and Shizuka had rescued her from a life or death situation, she vowed to serve them with her life.

"Ah yes, I do believe a meeting between me and Ojii-san is long overdue." Killer intent quickly filled the room, Whether Tsuki was deterred by it or not, she didn't show it. "Tsuki, can you watch over Shirou for me? He's in his room down the corridor; you'll know where it is."

"It would be an honor Shizuka-sama." Shizuka sighed as Tsuki still maintained the use of honorifics around her and her husband.

Toma nodded at Tsuki and quickly body flickered out of his home, Shizuka not far behind. Once outside, the two began roof hopping, taking the time to observe the surroundings of Uzushiogakure.

A wide river ran though the village, providing the village a stable food source at all times of the year. The land beside the river; rich in minerals, is what's used to grow crops needed for medicine and extra food. Built over the river are numerous bridges used to connect one side of the village to the other. The surrounding country side is dominated by hills for as far as the eye can see. Being as Toma and Shizuka live near the outskirts of the village, they have to cross one of the major bridges to reach the center of Uzushiogakure, Where the clan head, Hideki Uzumaki is waiting. The reason for Toma and Shizuka living near the outskirts of the village is to get away from all the attention of fellow clan members.

As Toma and Shizuka passed from high-rise building to high-rise building, many villagers waved hello to them, some even giving them a bow. Many shops and homes are built into high-rise buildings in Uzushiogakure due to the terrain. Arriving at the tallest high-rise building, The Clan Head's Tower Toma and Shizuka jump in through the uppermost window; shattering it on impact.

The Clan Head's Tower, is the largest high-rise building in Uzushigakure. It's similar to the other Kage Towers found in the Five Great Elemental Nations, but is heavily enforced with fuinjutsu seals of all kinds. They range from basic barrier seals, to instant death seals, depending on the importance of specific area's in the tower. Emblazoned in fiery red glory is the Uzumaki clan swirl in front of the tower.

"How many times do I have to tell you insolent brats to use the door? It's there for a reason!" said a white haired old man in the old grey Uzumaki armor, a relic of the past. The man had a sizable white beard growing and he wore the Uzumaki head band around his forehead. His hair, like Shizuka's is grown out and left untamed to fall down his back.

The white haired old man is the Clan Head of the Uzumaki clan. Living over a century, he has seen the horrors of the Shinobi Clan Wars, and guided the Uzumaki through the worst, and the best of times. If one were to ask Shizuka Uzumaki she would say that he's a senile old man, but if you were to ask anyone else they would revere him to the highest degree. One does not simply live over a hundred years, and not have gained a modicum of wisdom; wisdom grows in years after all, and the Clan Head has lived for over a century.

"Hideki-sama, you know as well as I, that we will never simply just use a door. It's a slight against our ninja ability." Toma began to point at his and Shizuka's jounin attire, which they changed into during their trip from their home to the Clan Head's Tower. "On another matter entirely, I hope you've prepared yourself." Toma said while rolling his eyes towards his wife who had already taken out a kunai with an explosive tag.

Shizuka then threw it at Hideki, and followed up with another four kunai with explosive tags for good measure. Still though, the famed Uzumaki temper had not been satisfied. So she tossed in her own brand of Uzumaki fuinjutsu, one that prompts its target to have diarrhea for seven days and seven nights. As the explosive seals detonated, the room was filled with smoke.

As the smoke cleared, Hideki can still be seen standing, a smug look on his face. There floating in the air is Shizuka's own brand of Uzumaki fuinjutsu printed on a sealing tag, and the five kunai she threw. The reason for this occurrence being the fuinjutsu barrier set up two meters in front of Hideki's desk that had blocked Shizuka's attacks.

Hideki, master sensor that he is, had sensed Shizuka's killer intent from her home. Accurately guessing the cause of such killer intent, he prepared a high level fuinjutsu barrier to ward of all attacks that could maim, kill, or attempt to pass the barrier. The barrier is tied into Hideki's mood. If he fears that he would come to bodily harm, the barrier would activate, when he is relaxed it will deactivate. As the barrier is active it will continue to take small portions of Hideki's chakra as its power source.

"Why didn't you tell me that you made Shirou a candidate Ojii-san?" Shizuka said smiling sweetly, hands already pressed against the barrier to look for what's powering it.

"Because I knew you would overreact," Frustrated that she couldn't find the power source, Shizuka began hammering at the barrier with her kunai. "Which I believe, is exactly what you are doing now."

"You know Ojii-san; you would sound a lot more convincing if you stepped out of this barrier to talk face to face with me, your lovely granddaughter." Shizuka stepped back from the barrier arms open wide in an inviting gesture.

Hideki made no attempts at movement, choosing instead to remain sitting behind his desk. Shizuka pissed beyond belief, began to take out her sealing papers in preparation for a large scale fuinjutsu attack.

"Shizuka, that's enough." Toma cut in as he dragged a raving Shizuka back with him to stand at attention. "Hideki-sama, I assume you called us here for a reason?"

"I would have already gotten to that reason if not for the un-needed disruption." He looked pointedly at Shizuka. She growled back. "Recently there have been reports about suspicious activities near the borders next to Kirigakure and Degarashi port. I have sent scouts towards those areas, but none have returned. The situation leaves me no other choice but to send our best, namely you two."

"We understand Hideki-sama. When should we depart?"

"You two will depart as soon as possible. Shizuka, I want you to go investigate Degerashi port, while Toma investigates our borders by Kiri. I'm labeling this as an A-rank mission. Oh, and Toma, I'd like for you to stick around a bit."

"Understood Hideki-sama/Ojii-san" Shizuka and Toma said. Shizuka soon leaves, but not before leaving behind an intricate seal on the floor that went unnoticed by Hideki as Toma had most of his attention.

"Why is it that you had me stay Hideki-sama?"

"I've grown too old for the position of Clan Head, my body is no longer as nimble as it used to be, or as strong." Hideki got up from his chair and began walking towards the largest fuinjutsu seal in the room.

"Why tell this to me? Surely you aren't intending to do what I think you're intending to do"

Hideki let out a sigh, before turning to look Toma straight in the eyes. "I plan to step down as Clan Head, and I intend to name you as my successor."

* * *

><p>Life as a baby for Shirou Uzumaki wasn't anything like he was expecting. At first, he believed he could use his time as a baby to improve his magecraft, or experiment with the new foreign energy inside him, but his own body prevented him from doing so. He would be awake one moment, and fall asleep in the next. He would have to wait until a time that he gets accustomed to his own body's sleep cycle. Until such a time has arrived, he could do nothing, but continue to do what he had done in his mother's womb.<p>

As of this moment Shirou is awake and testing the limits of his tracing abilities. It had taken Shirou two months since he was born to adjust to his body's sleeping cycle, and another two months for his parents to move him into a separate room. Once there Shirou began experimenting on his new capabilities like any magus would, even a third-rate like him. He had assumed that he was reborn in Japan, but this was not the case, simply because the presence of Gaia isn't present in the world.

He had discovered this when he realized that his traced swords would be stronger and maintain corporal form until a time he would choose to dispel them. That shouldn't be possible unless Gaia's presence wasn't there, or is just so weak that it makes no difference. Normally his traced swords would fade after Gaia's metaphysical 'pull' at the edges of the traced swords existence; however this was no longer the case, but to an extent the opposite is occurring. Instead of the world pulling on the existence of his traced swords, ultimately causing them to dissipate; the world is pushing on his traced swords allowing them to maintain corporal form. This in turn led Shirou to believe that he is in an alternate plane of reality, a parallel universe.

Usually when Shirou traces a weapon, he uses his prana which is divided into two types, Od and mana. To begin tracing, he would use his natural Od, the energy found within living organisms to create the weapon, and then maintain it with mana; the life force of the planet that exists in the atmosphere. But after discovering that mana in the atmosphere no longer has Gaia's influence, things changed for Shirou. Being as a magus's magic circuits convert mana to od or usable prana to perform magecraft; he can more readily create usable prana from mana in the atmosphere without Gaia's adverse effects. Shirou could now, more or less use the energy found in the environment to aid in his magecraft; different from before though, is that the new energy in the atmosphere that his magic circuits are converting into prana doesn't seem to have any adverse effects.

Recently, Shirou had come to realize that his red haired, purple eyed nightly visitor would no longer come to visit him. He hadn't seen her in over a week. She would normally come in rather noisily, probably waking up his parents in the process, but she would come nonetheless. The visitor was none other than his sister Kushina Uzumaki.

Usually she would come and talk to him about her day, going as far as to enact the more interesting parts; her bubbly personality easy to enjoy watching. But his most recent encounter with Kushina had left Shirou troubled. On that night over a week ago, Kushina had looked afraid, her normal cheerfulness replaced by trepidation. On that night she had picked Shirou up and brought him into her room to sleep next to him, something she had never done before. But what really troubled Shirou was that on the morning of that night, she had looked at him with a far off look and said, "Goodbye Shi-chan." He hasn't seen her since.

Often times as Shirou practiced incorporating his new energy into his magecraft, he would find himself thinking of that last encounter. Kushina is not meant to have such a look on her face he decided. As an ally of justice he would have to change that. For now though, he would train to become stronger than he was before.

Mid-morning came for Shirou as he spent another night working away at his magecraft; partway through discovering that he can use his new energy to fuel his projections. Shirou now knew two definite things about his new energy. That he could use it for projection and reinforcement, his two most prominent abilities.

"Are you doing well Shirou-sama?" Tsuki said as she entered Shirou's room.

"Tsu" Shirou said as he nodded his head towards his caretaker. On a side note, Shirou is still not able to speak fluently yet; being as his mouth hasn't developed enough to talk properly. Although, since he practices his tracing so often, he has perfected saying his unique aria.

Tsuki paused for a moment, remembering the start of a memorable event. It had been when Shirou had said his first word, him partially saying her name, and doing so in the presence of Toma and Shizuka. As a result, Shizuka was left devastated as 'her' baby hadn't tried to say her name first. From then on Shizuka spent all her time with Shirou whether he was sleeping or awake trying to get him to call her Kaa-san.

Shirou hadn't done so at the time simply because the word Kaa-san felt so alien to him, who couldn't recall ever having a mother. But he did recall a man who he called father; so it wasn't a surprise when Shirou had said Tou-san next. Prompting Shizuka to brutally harm her husband, who had done nothing to get Shirou's attention, but had still been called by him before her. Eventually though, Shirou had called out her name, more use to saying Kaa-san than he was before.

"Your parents have left to meet with your great grandfather, Hideki-sama, but I don't believe you've met him yet." Tsuki said while walking up to Shirou. "I have been tasked with the duty of watching over you from Shizuka-sama. Are you hungry?"

Shirou nodded his head as his body let out a grumble. Tsuki smiled at Shirou before going to the supply cabinet to acquire the baby food, but found that there was none left.

"I'm sorry Shirou-sama, but it seems you're going to have to wait a little while longer; were out of baby food." Tsuki said with a frown on her face.

_I can't leave Shirou by himself to go buy food_ Tsuki thought, _but I can take him with me_.

"Shirou we're going shopping." Tsuki picked Shirou up and body flickered out of the house, taking Shirou away from his home for the first time since he was born.

Shirou was flabbergasted as his surroundings suddenly changed from his comfy room to the top of a roof. _Is Tsuki some type of magus_ thought Shirou as Tsuki began roof hopping to the market; the speed in which she is going so fast that the scenery for Shirou looked like a blur.

On the way Tsuki passed by other people who were roof hopping. His interest peaked; Shirou began to observe the other roof hoppers.

"Interested in shinobi I see."

"Shinobi?" Shirou managed to say properly.

"Correct Shirou-sama, Shinobi. They are the protectors of the village, warriors who would die to protect those close to them. I'm not sure how other shinobi operate outside of our village, but the shinobi of Uzushiogakure, when we fight; we fight to defend those close to us. Though our shinobi may be few, we are the best." A proud smile worked its way across Tsuki's face, as the other shinobi roof hopping beside them let out hardy hollers.

_So they're called Shinobi,_ Shirou thought. _but that still doesn't explain how they are able to perform similar feats to magic._

"How yu du dat" Shirou pointed at the other roof hoppers, earning friendly smiles back.

"By using Chakra."

"Chaca?"

"Chakra, Shirou-sama, is the energy found in all things. It's what's used to power jutsu, techniques that shinobi's use. I won't go into further details because I doubt you would understand it all." Tsuki looked down at Shirou. "It's quite remarkable in fact that you can actually understand adult conversation at such a young age" She poked Shirou's nose. "I can see the start of a young Uzumaki prodigy."

Shirou, satisfied with the information he had obtained began to relax in Tsuki's arms. _Well that explains the new energy and how it is possible to perform feats similar to magic_ he thought. Suddenly the scenery around Shirou stopped shifting. Around him were dozens of shops and food vendors. Speaking of food, Shirou wondered if there were new recipes to be learned in this new world. If so, he would learn them all and improve them, thus is Shirou's love for cooking.

Tsuki began walking through the crowd of people, all of whom had red hair and stopped at a shop called Hidashi's Essentials. After entering the store Tsuki walked up to the counter where a spiky red haired young man and a woman were standing. Both were in blue uniforms with white stripes running down the arms and legs.

"Ah! Tsuki my dear what can I do for you? Is it a date you want? Or is it advice on how to steal my heart?" The young man said while striking poses.

Tsuki walked straight passed the man and towards the lady beside him. The man fell on his face, got up, and then acted as if nothing happened, all in the time span of three seconds.

"I would like to purchase some baby food Tsubasa." Tsuki put down a handful of ryo on the counter.

"Coming right up Tsuki." Tsubasa said as she took the offered ryo and began looking at a list. "By the way, I'm sorry about my brother Keisuke, he can be a bother sometimes." Tsubasa looked up from her list and disappeared behind a shelf.

"Who?" Tsuki looked around, finding no one worth noting.

Shirou could have just been seeing things, but he could have sworn that a lightning bolt struck Keisuke through the heart. _This 'Chakra' is more mysterious than I had initially imagined_ thought Shirou.

Tsubasa came back from behind the shelf carrying Shirou's baby food. His food consisting of mashed vegetables and milk, and ever since teething finished, baby crackers.

"So what's up with the baby? Is it yours?" Tsubasa asked her friend.

"This is Shirou," Tsuki raised Shirou up for Tsubasa to see. "He's Shizuka-sama's son."

Tsubasa and Tsuki began talking about trivial things, ignoring Keisuke whenever he tried to but in. They stopped however when they heard Shirou's stomach growl; Shirou having kept quite to allow Tsuki the chance to interact with her friend.

"I got to go Tsubasa, let's talk another time." Tsuki leaves the store and heads back to Toma and Shizuka's home. As soon as Tsuki arrived with Shirou, she prepared the food to be eaten. The sound of the body flicker jutsu being performed draws Tsuki's attention towards Shizuka who had just arrived to the scene of her feeding Shirou.

* * *

><p>Toma stood silent, his long bangs covering the left side of his angular face. He's in a situation in which he doesn't know what to do; Hideki had just named him his successor.<p>

"Why me?" He asked.

"There can be no one else," Hideki began. "My son and his wife died in battle, leaving behind only Shizuka. As you should know, Shizuka isn't very well suited for the position." _That's an understatement_ thought Toma.

"But shouldn't there be others more worthy of the position?" Toma was still reluctant to take the position from Hideki who had maintained it for over a century.

"There are, but those others that you speak of are around my age." Hideki produced a scroll from below the giant fuinjutsu seal that he is standing on. "To guarantee the safety of Uzushiogakure it is better for the next Clan Head to be young, but strong; you already fill both requirements."

"I don't understand what you mean Hideki-s-" Hideki raised his hand into the air, interrupting Toma.

"Call me Hideki-san or just Hideki, you're my equal now."

"But I haven't agreed to take the position." Hideki walked up to Toma with the scroll in hand.

"Toma, I've known you for nearly a decade now and I believe that you already know the answer you're going to pick." Hideki places a hand on Toma's shoulder.

"I understand...Hideki-san; I will take the position of Clan Head." Hideki removes his hand from Toma's shoulder and opens the scroll he is holding. Inside is a list of names, Hideki's the most recent, is radiating a bright blue.

"Good, the first thing I need you to do is sign this scroll." Hideki handed the scroll to Toma.

"What is this scroll?"

"This scroll Toma is the scroll that contains the names of every Clan Head in Uzukmaki clan history." Hideki began. "More importantly, it's the scroll necessary to power the great seal." Hideki pointed towards the giant fuinjutsu seal.

"You're speaking of the great seal that powers the great fuinjutsu barrier around Uzushiogakure aren't you." Toma analyzed.

"Perceptive as always I see; Yes, I'm talking about that seal. It draws small portions of the current Uzumaki Clan Head's chakra to power the barrier around our village, the portion pilfered easily replenished by our Uzumaki reserves."

"So if I were to die, the barrier around Uzushiogakure would fall and make us vulnerable to attack?"

"Yes. Being as you would be the current Clan Head, you are the only one able to power the seal; even if I were to be alive I can't power the seal again since I would be the previous Clan Head." Hideki looked at Toma as he signed the scroll. Hideki's name stopped glowing bright blue and in its place Toma's began glowing. "There is one final thing you should know, you cannot elect a new Clan Head until a decade has passed."

Toma didn't like the feeling of holding the well being of his entire clan on his shoulders, but as the new Clan Head, it is something he had to do. The Clan Head must always see the well being of the clan as a whole first, before personal matters. This is why Hideki had sent Kushina to Konoha, not because he's cruel, but for the sake of the clan maintaining its ties to Konoha; for what great grandfather would send away his own great granddaughter willingly.

"That's good to know, knowledge is power." Toma left for his mission, leaving Hideki behind.

Hideki sat back down on his desk and relaxed, confident that Toma and Shizuka wouldn't die from a simple A-rank mission. It was an hour later that Hideki began to feel acute abdominal pains, and he didn't know why. One thing he did know though is that he needed a bathroom. Quickly getting up from his seat, he rushed to the nearest restroom. The tiny seal Shizuka had left on the floor gave of a dull blue glow as it continued to release a scentless gas in the air. Hideki didn't find it until three days later, cursing Shizuka's name as he had to endure three days of constant bowl movement on a toilet.

* * *

><p>"Welcome home Shizuka-sama, how was your meeting?" Tsuki said. She gave Shirou the cookie she was holding and walked towards Shizuka.<p>

"It was horrible Tsuki~" Shizuka slumped onto a coach next to Shirou, lazily watching him nibble on his cookie. "The old man was so mean, he didn't even let me hurt him, and to top it off he made Toma stay with him; making me travel home alone~. I hope he's on a toilet by now"

Tsuki remained silent, not wanting to agree or disagree with what Shizuka had said; her honor wouldn't allow such a slight against those who she respects. Shizuka knowing this just dropped the matter entirely, not wanting to trouble Tsuki. Suddenly, Shizuka's demeanor changed from lazy to serious, managing to catch Shirou's and Tsuki's attention.

"Tsuki," Shizuka made eye contact with Tsuki. "Toma and I have each been assigned an A-rank mission by Ojii-san. I am to investigate Degerashi Port for mysterious activity while Toma investigates our borders near Kiri." Tsuki nods at Shizuka to continue. "I'm trusting you with Shirou's supervision while we're gone. If the unspeakable occurs..."

"You don't have to say anymore Shizuka-sama, I understand." Tsuki grasps Shizuka's hands, staring intently into her eyes "I shall watch over Shirou with my life."

"It's just one surprise after another today isn't it?" Toma said as he finished body flickering into the house. "Tsuki, are you trying to start an affair with my wife?"

Realizing the way the situation must look to others; Tsuki immediately releases her grasp on Shizuka's hands.

"A-a thousand apologies Toma-sama! I was only doing what I thought was righ-NO! That's not what I meant! I meant that it was the only thing to d-NO! That's not it eith-" Toma began laughing, cutting Tsuki off as her cool demeanor was shattered the more embarrassed she got.

"I'm sorry Tsuki I couldn't help it; I've never seen you lose your composure before." Toma said between fits of laughter.

Tsuki collected herself and stared impassively towards Toma, reminding him of one of his wife's temper tantrums.

"Welcome home Toma-sama." Tsuki said monotonously, lacking any sense of warmth or welcome.

"You don't have to be so mad Tsuki, I said I was sorry" Tsuki didn't answer.

"It wasn't that bad right Shizuka?" Shizuka remained quite, looking at her finger nails; indirectly implying 'your fault, you fix it'.

Toma turned towards the final person in the room. "Shirou?" Shirou turned his head away, not feeling guilty in the slightest. Toma sighed, he knew of only one way to fix this, but he would be damned if word ever got out to anyone. If it worked for his wife it should work for Tsuki.

"Shirou," Toma said, drawing Shirou's attention. "There will come a time in your life when you anger a woman and suffer her wrath," Toma might have imagined it, but it looked like his son already knew what he was talking about. "When that time comes you must set aside your pride, your honor, and your dignity for the sake of the greater good." Toma snapped his head in Tsuki's direction, startling her.

"Oh great, mighty, and beautiful Tsuki! I have done a grave wrong towards you! Please find it in your heart to forgive such a sinful creature as I!" Toma said as he bowed on his knees to Tsuki, while Shirou gave an understanding nod. Shirou could relate himself to Toma, no amount of power a man can amass can ever compare to the wrath of a woman, especially one's close to said man.

"W-what are you doing Toma-sama! I forgive you so please stop this at once! Someone of your stature shouldn't be doing this!" Tsuki began waving her hands frantically in the air, face turned away. Almost as soon as the words had left Tsuki's mouth however, Toma was up and acting like nothing ever happened; Shizuka laughed in the background. Tsuki's upper left eyebrow began to twitch, but she let the subject drop.

"Tsuki, I assume that Shizuka told you about our missions," Toma began. Tsuki answered in the affirmative. "Hideki-san wants us to leave as soon as possible, so we will be leaving shortly; please take care of Shirou."

"Rest assured Toma-sama, Shizuka-sama no harm shall come to Shirou."

Toma and Shizuka walked up to Shirou and each gave him a hug; saying a few words to him while doing so. They then left to go to their room to prepare for their individual missions, leaving behind Tsuki and a confused Shirou.

Shirou didn't know what was going on, though he did get the concept of missions. If his parents were going to do something dangerous he could only hope that they can make it back alive. He would have lent them a traced sword, but he had learned that they aren't proficient in their use when he had watched his parents spar with a young Kushina with Kenjutsu in the back yard. His parents were mediocre in the sword arts; more often than not Kushina would beat them in sword play. _Damn it, why did I have to be reborn as an infant. I should be there to help them, not be taken care of_ thought Shirou.

While Shirou was having his internal dilemma, Tsuki had picked him up and walked towards the door, waiting to see Shizuka and Toma off. Shizuka and Toma arrived by the door five minutes later. Both were in Uzushiogakure Jounin flak jackets, as well as their ninja gear, and both were carrying large packs of supplies.

Shizuka nuzzled her face against Shirou's. "Be a good boy while were gone Shirou." Shirou nodded his head after Shizuka stopped nuzzling him. Toma only ruffled Shirou's hair, and smiled as he passed by.

"Bye Tsuki! Well be back in no time!" Shizuka said as she and Toma disappeared in a flurry of leaves.

* * *

><p>Degarashi Port is a port in the Land of Tea; led by its founder Kyūroku Wagarashi. The vast Kanashi Ocean that separates the land of Tea from Uzu Island makes it difficult for Uzu ninja to keep track of current happenings in the port. As a result, it creates the perfect place to mobilize troops for a surprise attack. Vast armadas of war ships are currently being built to invade Uzu Island's waters by shinobi from Iwa, The village Hidden in the Rock; each wooden warship able to carry around a hundred Iwa shinobi. Currently there are twelve constructed.<p>

The attack had been ordered by the Tsuchikage, Ōnoki of Both Scales as the council of Iwa had deemed that Uzushiogakure, the Village Hidden in the Whirlpool had become too strong. As a direct result Iwa had sent out a unit of two thousand shinobi to wipe out Uzushiogakure. Being as Iwa is known for its massive manpower, the number of shinobi deployed didn't even dent Iwa's reserves.

The Iwa shinobi have taken over Degarashi Port to build their war ships. Leading them is a Jounin level kunoichi named Emiko. She has long-brown colored hair which she ties in such a fashion as to form a ball on top of her head; she uses a senbon needle to hold it in place. Her typical attire consists of a short brown sleeveless dress and numerous bandages that encircle portions of her body, including her waist and thighs. Though she is undoubtedly strong, her personality is known to be rather cruel. More often than not, she enjoys cutting her opponents into pieces with her blade.

"Hey, you over there!" Emiko pointed at an Iwa-nin delivering planks of wood to the shinobi working on the construction of the war ships. The Iwa-nin dropped the planks of wood, walked up to her, and stood at attention. "What's the progress on the war ships?"

"They will be completed in a week as planned captain. The thirteenth war ship has just been completed." The Iwa-nin stated

"Good, see to it that we don't get any delays." Emiko crossed her arms and smirked to herself. "As soon as the twenty war ships are completed, set sail for Uzu; we have a village to destroy, and bodies to be lacerated into pieces."

The Iwa-nin gave a resolute nod and walked over to the planks of wood. Picking them up again, he set off to deliver them to the shinobi teams constructing the war ships. As Emiko began walking away, a long-raven haired woman in rags steps out from her hiding spot behind a bush and vanishes.

"I will stand for this outrage no longer!" A man wearing the symbol of the Wagarashi family yells loudly to all Iwa shinobi. "You Iwa shinobi have taken over our port, our food supplies, and even our homes! I demand that you, in the name of the Wagarashi family LEAVE!" Emiko smiled sadistically, she was wondering when someone would man up and protest their stay here. She body flickered behind the man and held a kunai under his throat.

"And what will you do if we don't?" The man instantly froze, eyes widening as the tip of the kunai nicked his neck.

"P-P-Please have m-m-mercy!" The man began begging. People of the port village arrived to the sight of the sole man who tried to rise against the Iwa shinobi begging for his life. After a minute of watching the man beg, the people lost any hope they had about driving the Iwa shinobi off their land. Emiko suddenly let the man go, the same sadistic smile still on her face.

"T-T-Thank you." The man said as he fell to the ground, his legs having given out on him. A black haired woman suddenly bursts out of the crowd of spectators and runs frantically up to the man.

"Kodaka are you ok?!" The woman said as she began fretting over Kodaka

"I'm okay, but you shouldn't be here! Go back to the crowd Chiei!" Kodaka tries to get Chiei to leave.

"I'm not going back without you." Chiei lifts Kodaka off the ground and pulls him with her to the crowd. Emiko remained standing where she was, mouth still set into a smile.

"You fool Kodaka, never do that again!" Chiei said as she and Kodaka were making their way to the crowd. "Do you know how worried I was; how I felt when I thought you were going to die?"

"I'm sorry for worrying you Chiei, but I had to try. Our people are homeless, hungry, and dying." Chiei gave Kodaka a hard stare as they got closer and closer to the crowd.

"This may sound selfish, but all I care about is you. With you by my side, I can endure any hardship, any obstacle in my path; can't you say the same about me?" Chiei began to shed the tears she had been holding back as she helplessly watched her fiancé beg for his life.

"Chiei..." Kodaka and Chiei stopped moving towards the crowd as Kodaka wiped away Chiei's tears. "I understand now. With you by my side I can endure any hardship and any obstacle."

Chiei gives a radiant smile as new tears begin streaming from her eyes, but this time they are tears of happiness; showing the people of Degarashi Port that happiness can still be found in the bleakest of times.

"Lets go home Chiei." Kodaka holds his hand out for Chiei to take. Chiei takes his hand with hers.

"Yeah," Chiei wipes her tears away with her free hand. "Let's go ho-" Blood splatters across the road as the people of the port gasp in shock.

"Eh?" Chiei fell down, a blade lodged through her chest in the area of her heart; held by Emiko.

"Chiei! NO!" Kodaka yells, desperately hoping that Chiei would still be alive.

As Kodaka reached out for Chiei, Emiko retracted her sword from Chiei's body. Her smile was now so wide; it looked as if it would split her face in half. It had been too long in her opinion since she had last killed someone. She had missed the exquisite feeling, the sensation of cutting into the flesh of another and the beautiful look that appears only once on the face of the opponent as they die. It had already been two weeks since the last time she had killed someone; the last being a scout the Uzumaki had sent.

There had been a battle that day between the Uzumaki and the Iwa shinobi, and what a battle it was. Corpses littered the battle ground as the lone Uzumaki stood battling a unit of thirty Iwa-nin. Earth Jutsu's were launched everywhere by the Iwa shinobi as numerous seals etched onto sealing papers by the lone Uzumaki ignited into fiery torrents of fire, water, wind, and earth. The landscape was altered; the environment devastated into ruin, yet the Uzumaki had survived it all. Against the odds, she had come out on top; though littered with numerous grievous injuries she shrugged them off due to her Uzumaki heritage and made haste towards the dock where she had hitched her boat.

It was unfortunate for the Uzumaki however, that her hitched boat was in the direction of Emiko. The clash that had ensued between the Uzumaki and Emiko was short compared to the battle against the unit of Iwa shinobi. The Uzumaki exhausted from her previous bout didn't have the chakra necessary to activate her strongest fuinjutsu seals; so she had to rely on her minor seals and natural abilities. Emiko however had no handicaps and she wasn't stupid enough not to take advantage of the situation. The battle had ended when Emiko managed to cut through the Uzumaki's low tier barrier seal and land a decisive blow to the Uzumaki's head; cutting it clean off.

Emiko had reveled in the feel of victory almost as much as she enjoyed cutting up the body afterwards.

"You damn monster!" Kodaka yelled towards Emiko after having felt Chiei for a pulse, but found none.

Emiko just smiled, and stabbed Chiei again, watching as Kodaka's face contorted in rage. Kodaka threw a punch at Emiko, but she disappeared in a body flicker; appearing again behind Kodaka Wagarashi, stabbing him threw with her blade. She had missed Kodaka's heart on purpose to watch him squirm. As Kodaka lay on the ground bleeding to death, he reached an arm out to grasp Chiei's hand, but promptly got that cut off too. It was too much for Kodaka, in one hour he had lost his future wife and is now near death. He had at least wanted to hold his future wife's hand one more time before dying, but the world is a cruel place.

Out in the crowd the raven haired woman in rags clenches her fists strong enough to draw blood. Separating from the crowd she disappeared into the thick foliage surrounding the port city. Arriving at a small cave by a rock formation, she raises her hand into a one handed seal.

"Kai." The woman began changing. Long-raven colored hair, turned vibrant red, and the rags she wore were replaced by a dark blue flak jacket and regular combat pants. Shizuka Uzumaki isn't happy, far from happy, she is furious. She had arrived at Degarashi Port two days prior and immediately discovered the presence of Iwa shinobi, but she had also discovered a scene that nearly set her off to murder any Iwa shinobi in sight.

Shibazaki Uzumaki, her friend and sister in all but blood had been killed. It wasn't her death that led Shizuka to amass such fury, no for her death was a valiant one, shown by the number of Iwa shinobi Shizuka had walked passed before finding her. It was the way she was killed. Blood had been splattered everywhere, her limbs left scattered as her body was matted with numerous lacerations. It had nearly drove her over the edge, if not for her shinobi training, she didn't know what she would have done. She had gathered her friends body parts and sealed them within a scroll to use for a proper burial. It was with great difficulty that Shizuka continued to survey the Iwa shinobi for their intentions.

Today Shizuka had finished what she was sent to do. She had found out Iwa's intentions from the kunoichi leading them and now needs to return to Uzushiogakure as soon as possible. Gathering her things from inside the cave she returned to her boat hitched several miles away from Degarahi Port. It had been sheer luck that Shizuka had decided to reach the port on foot rather than docking there with her boat. If not Shizuka might of had to face an onslaught of Iwa shinobi. Reaching her boat Shizuka raced back to Uzushiogakure.

* * *

><p>Hideki stared at Shirou and he back. They were in Toma and Shizuka's house sitting across from each other as Tsuki prepared tea for Hideki. A week had passed since Shirou's parents had left on their missions, and Shirou in his frustration that he couldn't help them had begun to train even harder. He often reinforced himself day and night, but he limited his tracing ability to when he was alone, not sure how the people of this world would react to it; he would wait for a time when he's older or circumstances arrive. As of right now, he is staring quizzically at Hideki, his great grandfather trying to decipher the reason as to why he is staring at him so oddly.<p>

Hideki is beyond simple surprise. He had not expected the extraordinary growth rate of his great grandson to be so, well, extraordinary. He had come specifically today to visit his only great grandson, deeming it appropriate since he couldn't find the time to do so before. Being as his duties as Clan Head prevented him from doing so, but he had now passed those duty's over to Toma. _Good luck with the paper work Toma!_ Hideki thought as he remembered the ever growing pile of paper work on his desk.

Once Hideki had arrived into the house hold, Tsuki had welcomed him, sat Shirou in front of him, and began making tea. It's in this very situation that Hideki had discovered the extraordinary in Shirou. His chakra level had increased from Chunin to Jonin level in the past year since he was born, and to top it off, Hideki can sense that Shirou is currently using chakra to enforce himself. _This boy will be a legend one day_ thought Hideki as he reached out and began ruffling Shirou's spiky bright red hair while smiling the smile that all great grandfathers have when in the presence of their great grandchild. Shirou just had an irritated look on his face as every adult he has been introduced to in this world would always deem it fit to ruffle his hair. It was fine the first few times, but now it's just annoying.

"Hideki-sama, your tea." Tsuki came in holding two cups of tea in her hands; one for her and one for Hideki.

"Thank you Tsuki." Hideki took the cup of tea from Tsuki and began taking small sips. Tsuki sat down next to Shirou and proceeded to do the same. Suddenly Hideki perked up and smiled as he detected a familiar chakra signature. _Shizuka I'm glad no harm has befallen you_ he thought. Hideki took another sip of tea as Shizuka appeared in a flurry of leaves directly in front of him. Her normally cheerful face is set into a sad angry scowl as she recalled her findings at Degarashi Port. Hideki, seeing that Shizuka had a lot on her mind decided to wait before asking for a report.

"What did you find Shizuka?" said Hideki five minutes later. In response, Shizuka took out a containment seal and gave it to Hideki.

"That," she said. "Is Shibazaki-san who you had sent to scout Degarashi Port prior to sending me." Shizuka said solemnly as tears glistened in her eyes.

"I...see" Regret tinted Hideki's voice as he yet again received word that a member of the clan had died, the last being his own son and his wife. "What else did you discover?"

"An army of Iwagakure shinobi." Shizuka began recounting her findings to Hideki. His face seemed to age in years as he began to realize the seriousness of the situation. Unbeknownst to them, Shirou was listening in to their conversation, thinking of ways that he could help. Shirou's options were limited, but he did have something in mind.

"Tsuki tell the barrier squads to begin reinforcing the barriers around Uzushiogakure," Wasting no time Tsuki body flickered out of the house. "I'm sorry to ask this of you Shizuka after you have just returned, but can you inform the ANBU units to set traps near Uzushigakure's perimeter?" Hideki looked at Shizuka.

"Of course." Shizuka disappeared and reappeared outside the house, roof hopping to her destination.

Hideki remained behind, a calculative look on his face as he watched over Shirou and tried to formulate a strategy with the least amount of casualties. After deciding on one, he took Shirou and went to the Clan Head's Tower to issue orders to the populace.

Uzushiogakure's defense was set up in just a day. Barrier seals were reinforced to the maximum and traps laid everywhere. The thousand Uzushiogakure shinobi that Hideki had gathered began preparing themselves for a fight that could come at any day. A messenger bird had been sent to Konoha for aid by Hideki, but it would still take at least a week or two for the Konoha shinobi to arrive. The Uzumaki would just have to hold out until then. As long as the great barrier surrounding Uzushiogakure doesn't fall the Uzumaki should be able to survive. The great barrier is the strongest barrier in Uzumaki history; countless years have been spent on it. Each generation of Uzumaki Clan Head's adding more strength to the barrier through fuinjutsu, improving its previous faults. No enemy shinobi has ever passed through the great barrier.

"Hideki-sama! You have to come quick, it's Toma, he has returned." said an ANBU wearing a seagull mask. Hideki smiled, with Toma inside the great barrier, the chances of it falling have dropped to zero. "Have him come here, I wish to see him."

"Hideki-sama, he can't." The ANBU said solemnly as he looked at the ground. "He has been gravely injured and is currently in the hospital."

"What!? It can't be!" Hideki vanished from the Clan Head's Tower, the ANBU closely following.

* * *

><p>Shirou didn't know what was going on when his mother had suddenly grabbed him and body flickered off. Her face showed a great deal of worry and anxiety, and she had kept telling him that everything would be OK, and that his father was fine. He could tell though, that she was mainly saying it to reassure herself. His confusion had only lasted until they had reached what looked like a hospital building, his mind drawing itself towards a grim conclusion. His mother ran passed many rooms, looking into each one, until she had reached a room with the bustling sounds of activity. She had fallen on her knees and burst into tears as soon as she had entered. There on an operating table is Toma Uzumaki, badly wounded and in critical condition.<p>

"NO! NO! NO!" Shizuka yelled in distress. She had already lost her father and mother; she didn't even want to think about losing Toma, but reality reared its ugly head. She would now have to witness her loving husband die as well; Shizuka couldn't take it. She ran up to Toma pushing the medic-nin's out of the way, and stood at Toma's side. Up close Toma's condition looked even worse. He had lost his left arm, one of his eyes had been cut through, and numerous stab wounds littered his body.

"..Shi..zuka?" Toma said looking at her direction.

"Don't talk, and just save your strength! You're going to be alright!" Shizuka didn't know what to do, but hold on to Toma's remaining hand while holding on to Shirou.

"..I...can feel it...Shizuka." Toma rasped out. "I'm...going to die."

"SHUT UP! You're not allowed to die! I-I need you! Shirou needs you!" Shizuka placed Shirou in front of Toma, showing him off in an effort to change Toma's mind. "please, don't leave us!" Shizuka began hyperventilating.

Hideki appeared in the room followed closely by the ANBU wearing the seagull mask. The medic-nin made a path for him towards Toma. The situation had just become grave. If Toma were to die, the great barrier will fall, and Uzushiogakure would be wiped out. Hideki stood beside Toma and began administering his best healing jutsu's.

"..Hideki...san..is that..you?" Hideki nodded his head to confirm Toma's question.

"Quite child and rest, I may still be able to save you." Shizuka looked hopefully at her grandfather as she held Shirou close for comfort.

Toma began coughing up blood. Hideki frowned, it wasn't working. Seeing her grandfather frown Shizuka began to sob silently, not wanting to distract her grandfather in the off chance that he can indeed save Toma.

"..Hideki-san...there is...something I need...to tell you." Toma turned his head fully towards Hideki. "..Kiri...has amassed...a force of...two hundred...elite shinobi...to attack...Uzushiogakure." Hideki widened his eyes at the admission, this would not bode well.

"..We have to...evacuate...the village...when I die...the great barrier...will fall." Hideki nodded at Toma's judgment. Without the seal, Uzushiogakure would be over run by the two thousand shinobi of Iwa and the other shinobi from Kiri.

"..I...have a favor...to ask...Hideki-san." Toma looked at Shirou with his lone eye. "..Can you...prolong my life...for a bit...longer?"

"It will be done." Hideki said. Toma reached his hand out towards Shirou, pointer finger extended, emitting chakra.

"..Shizuka...please...lift his shirt." Shizuka did so, already knowing what Toma had planned. Toma began writing an intricate seal on Shirou's stomach, strokes and brushes of the seal done to perfection even in the state Toma was in. "Fuin." Toma said as he completed the seal. He relaxed on the operating table, waiting for his inevitable death as Hideki stopped healing him; it would only prolong his pain. Shizuka continued crying as she watched her husband slowly dying. It was clear to anyone that pain was evident in everyone's eyes.

Shirou had watched his family suffer long enough. In his past life he had seen his father, Kiritsugu die with a smile on his face as he looked off into the moon on the veranda, and Shirou could do nothing to save him. Here and now his second father, something Shirou would have had never imagined to have again is dying. Kiristsugu had died at a time where Shirou could do nothing but watch, but it's different for Toma. As Toma lay dying on the operating table, Shirou knew that in this lifetime, he had the power to make a difference.

Shirou raised a hand, drawing everyone's attention including his dying father.

"Trace," A blade began materializing in the air above Toma, leaving the others gawking. The blade is of conceptual make, but it had somewhat of a holy, peaceful aura around it. It bore an open human hand engraved in white on its hilt. "On" The blade completely formed above Toma

* * *

><p><strong>Special thanks to souvikkundu0017 for providing me with the information necessary to write this story.<strong>


	3. Uzushigakure Part 2

The blade dropped. Slow at first, it quickly gained speed as gravity pulled it down with all of its force. Shizuka moved to intercept the blade before it caused any damage, but she was too late. The blade stabbed itself through Toma's chest, eliciting a quite yelp to escape from his lips. Toma did not understand what was happening at first, but gradually though, he began to comprehend what had happened. The corporal blade that his son had just created out of thin air had stabbed him. He did not know how to feel at the moment; would he die not simply because of an encounter with enemy shinobi, but from his own son? Without warning a pleasant tingling feeling began erupting from his chest.

Shizuka stood petrified, face set in horror as she had just witnessed her own baby kill her husband right in front of her. Her brain stopped functioning as it kept trying to process and piece together the fact that 'her' baby had just killed her husband. A gentle hand pressed itself firmly onto her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, but it had no effect. She began to lose strength in her legs, and falling to her knees, she broke down; Shirou still held in her arms.

Hideki was at a loss for words. The situation had escalated to fast for him to attempt to do anything, but gawk as the blade had stabbed itself through Toma's chest. Shizuka had stood still beside him, but he could tell that she was already at her breaking point; to many events involving her and her family had occurred within the time span of three weeks. Kushina was sent away, Shibazaki had died, and finally her husband Toma, died by the hands of her own son. Hideki had placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, but it did not help ease Shizuka in the slightest. She had begun shivering uncontrollably; then fell on her knees and broke down right then and there.

If not for the gasps and sounds of movements that drew Hideki's attention towards the operating table where Toma lay, he would have continued to mourn in silence. He stared in the direction opened mouthed and eyes wide in amazement. Shizuka also looked at the operating table with hollow eyes as Shirou who she had been holding, pointed towards that direction.

Gasps continued to be heard all around the room from the occupants as they blatantly stared at an upright sitting Toma Uzumaki; the sword still lodged through his chest. Toma himself had a look of wonder on his face as he stared at the sword. It had not only healed his wounds, but also re-grown his lost limbs and body parts. He felt as good as new. Gingerly, he pulled out the sword stuck through his chest. The crowd gawked as they watched the wound heal and close itself. As this was occurring Shizuka just stared at Toma blankly before a feeling of euphoria flooded through her that lit up her features and filled her body with adrenaline.

A red blur suddenly knocks Toma over.

"Never ever do this to me again! You're not allowed to die and leave me behind!" Shizuka yelled while crying onto Toma's shirt. The scene was heart warming in the eyes of the others in the room who had witnessed it.

Shizuka began to berate Toma with words for giving up on life and accepting death, but everyone could tell that she was only doing so to confirm that Toma was really alive and okay.

Hideki, though happy with Toma's survival was more focused on another matter, namely Shirou who is sitting on the ground where Shizuka had left him to tackle Toma.

* * *

><p>He did not consider the consequences of his actions, but rather he just did not care. It wasn't as if he was new to the concept of praise or admiration found in the eyes of those around him. Nor was he new to the way their eyes would always seem to drift towards his general direction.<p>

Word had spread through the clan like wild fire. Starting from the hospital it worked its way across the whole of Uzushiogakure. There was no Uzumaki who had not heard of the miracle that had occurred within their clan walls. Rumors began to spread by word of mouth; although all were far from the truth of the matter.

He believed that what he had done was right. The way his mother had hugged him and the relieved smiles that had alighted her, his father and everyone's faces had only proved to strengthen his belief. He had been able to help, to save his father's life; in the end isn't that what really mattered most? He believed so without a doubt.

Sooner or later, after the astonishment had faded from the eyes of the individuals in the hospital room, a sense of respect replaced it; respect for the boy who had created a miracle. A miracle that not only just single handedly saved Toma Uzumaki's life, but Uzushigakure's as well. The great barrier would not fall; the people of Uzushiogakure would not vacate their homes in search of another, and many would not die to buy time for those who would flee.

For a time, every Uzumaki in Uzushiogakure had forgotten about the impending crisis that would soon befall their village; so caught up in the excitement that had spread through Uzushiogakure by one miraculous act. If not for a messenger bird arriving with word from Konoha, the time of the Uzumaki's ignorance to the world might have been their downfall.

He had decided that he would not let the sword fade from existence. Its power would be necessary in the upcoming conflict. Woundhealer, the sword he had traced is a sword ironically incapable of killing.

He had been able to obtain the sword when Wizard Marshal Zeltrech, practitioner of the second magic Kaleidoscope, sent him into another world on a whim. He had appeared falling down a cliff-face along with a horse and a man who had a sword through his chest. On instinct he had structurally grasped the sword lodged in the individual's chest, and stored it within his Unlimited Blade Works; indirectly obtaining Woundhealer. It was an hour after healing himself from his abrupt fall that Zeltrech, under threat by Rin, retrieved him. He would never know what Rin had done to get him back, but he would be forever grateful.

Most would find the sword useless; for what use is a sword that can not kill? Truly, the people who had missed the true purpose of the sword were misfortunate. Its ability lies not within killing, but in healing. It is able to heal the most grievous of injuries and re-grow lost limbs and body parts by a simple stab. Truly, it is a one of a kind treasure.

They had taken the sword and delicately placed it on a fine embroidered cloth brought by the ANBU with the seagull mask on Hideki's orders. A sealing scroll had been produced by Hideki and the sword placed on top of it. It disappeared in a puff of smoke, the seal now displaying the characters for 'sword' on front. Hideki had taken the scroll and handed it to Toma who had begun testing his body for abnormalities, but found none.

Subsequently, he had been whisked away from the hospital room by his mother after Hideki had a quick word with her. Tsuki, who also came to the hospital on word of Toma's arrival promptly followed after Shizuka. Both women were still in a state of awe, none more so than Shizuka who had truly felt that her world was ending several minutes prior, only to have it saved by her baby.

No one in the world, Shizuka believed could claim that they can be any happier, any prouder, than she at this moment. They had taken him home and begun showering him with praise. Shizuka had even forsaken the confidentiality of Toma's study and turned it into a playroom; going as far as equipping the room with small fuinjutsu seals that shot out small streams of various elements into wide arcs that disappeared before touching the floor as entertainment for him. She had done everything she thought he might have liked, whether it was making a variety of food, to creating a wide assortment of games through fuinjutsu.

It was flattering in a sense for him, that she would go to such lengths to show her appreciation; but he didn't save his father for recognition or a reward. He had done it because he wished too. He had done it because he could 'do' something about it, but most of all, he had done it with the intention to save.

He believed that he did not deserve to be praised, admired, or respected for doing what he deemed was ultimately the right and just thing to do. It did not sit well with him, so he chose instead to sit by an open window to stare at the clouds as his mother continued finding or creating new things to entertain him with. He sighed when his mother believed that a chicken from who knows where would entertain him. _Today will be a long day_, he thought. His mother brings out a squirrel with a smile on her face, _a long day indeed_.

* * *

><p>"Hey! Tomato!" said a brown haired boy to a girl with a round face and red hair that naturally framed it. She wore a sleeveless kimono-style blouse that was yellow in color and held closed with a green obi over a short-sleeved mesh shirt. As for lower body garments, she wore a pair of dark blue shorts and brown shinobi sandals. "The market's over there!" He began pointing at the road leading to the market from the window of the shinobi academy.<p>

"Who're you calling Tomato?!" The girl yelled as she grabbed the brown haired boy by the collar of his shirt. "Now you listen, and you better listen well! Stop calling me Tomato-dattebane!" When the boy chose not to answer she snapped. Roughly shoving him onto the ground with his back facing the ceiling, she pinned him there, and began to deliver a number of punches on his person. The boy, in order to defend himself raised his arms to cover his head, but it did no good. "Keep calling me Tomato and you're going to get it-dattebane!"

A black haired boy began laughing along with a blond haired boy sitting on a desk near the entrance to the classroom. They had found the scene rather comical and chose to express their feelings about it by laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" The girl asked from her position above the brown haired boy. Both boys turned away as she glared in their direction; the blond though took a second glance before fully turning around.

Having had enough of pummeling the unfortunate boy, the girl got up and left the room; heading straight towards the Hokage Tower where she knew friendly company would be. It had only been three weeks since she had arrived in Konoha and she had already had enough of the village. She missed her mother, she missed her father, but most of all she missed her baby brother. She missed the times when it would just be her and him doing nothing but enjoying each others company as she would talk her heart out to him. She missed...Uzushiogakure.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she began thinking of home. Konoha was not her home; Uzushio is, and forever will be her home. A home is a place where you feel welcome, needed, and accepted.

Konoha was not home. Here she felt none of the feelings that she had associated for a home, aside from Mito's house and the Hokage Tower. The past two weeks were the worst in her life. Never had she been looked down on for her hair, her dreams, and verbal tick before. It was thanks to the efforts of Mito and the Hokage that she could still smile happily, but those times were only ever in their presence.

She would make Konoha respect her, to treat her better; she could only hope that when she became Hokage people will recognize and respect her. She hoped that with recognition, the people would stop treating her differently and accept her for who she is; so that one day Konoha may become a second home, but for now it's a far off goal. A very far off goal since she hadn't smiled once in the presence of the villagers; not feeling comfortable in their presence.

She brought an arm out to wipe the tears that had formed in her eyes and cleared her face of saddness. Even if she felt sad, she didn't want to worry Mito with her troubles. Passing the large markets of Konoha to reach the Hokage Tower she abruptly stopped, a salivating scent wafting into her nose. A scent that had drawn her to a small honest looking restaurant named Ramen Ichiraku's. The name itself was enough to draw her into the store, a reminiscing look on her face.

Ramen, her mother's best served dish and her favorite food. This would be the first time that she has had ramen in three weeks.

"What will you have miss?" a man said by the counter. He wore a white chef's uniform that resembled a yukata and a white toque.

"A bowl of miso ramen please." she said excitedly. She sat on one of the stools, an anticipating look adorning her face.

"Coming right up miss!" the man took a bowl from the shelf and began filling it with ramen broth, noodles, and toppings before serving it. "By the way I'm Teuchi."

"My names Kushina! And I'm going to be the first female Hokage-dattebane!" Kushina introduced herself as she broke apart her chopsticks. Taking her first bite, the chopsticks fell out of her hand as her eyes widened and a few tears streamed from them. She stared into the bowl and saw an image of her mother, but it disappeared moments later. The ramen had tasted so similar to her mothers, it was if she was the one who made it.

"Are you okay Kushina-san?" Kushina wiped the tears streaming down her face and gave her first genuine smile away from Mito Uzumaki and the Hokage.

"I'm fine, there was just something in my eyes; that's all it was." Kushina picked up her chopsticks and dove back into her ramen with gusto, playing off the moment that had just occurred. She finished almost half of the bowl in a matter of seconds. Teuchi smiled as he watched Kushina devour his ramen; she reminded Teuchi of little gerbil as her cheeks expanded to fit all the ramen in her mouth.

"You like my ramen I see." Kushina only nodded her head, her concentration more focused on her ramen. "Would you like another bowl?" Kushina looked up, a stray noodle hanging from her mouth.

"Yes!" she said after slurping up the stray noodle, causing some of the broth to splash on her face, but she didn't mind all that much; she could always wipe it off later. Finishing her bowl, Teuchi gave her another bowl of miso ramen which she finished even faster than the last one.

"Can I have another?" Kushina held up her empty ramen bowl for Teuchi.

"Sure" Teuchi refilled her ramen bowl with more miso ramen.

Kushina looked up at Teuchi with a pleading look in her eyes as she finished her fourth bowl of ramen.

Teuchi sighed as Kushina had yet again finished her ramen and was looking up at him. He had anticipated this result so he prepared another bowl of miso ramen for Kushina before hand, but just in case it wasn't enough he began preparing more bowls. Kushina's eyes gleamed as Teuchi just silently placed bowl after bowl of miso ramen in front of her. Kushina had left the store after her twelfth bowl, Teuchi being kind enough to say that it was all on the house. It would be the first and only time he would let her eat that much for free.

Kushina continued on her way to the Hokage Tower, arriving a full hour late from her regular arrival time, but she didn't think that the Hokage would mind. Passing by the secretary who tried to inform her to wait for a better time to visit, she approached the Hokage's office; only to find it slightly open.

"Hokage-sama, what should we do?" came a voice from inside the office. The voice was one that Kushina had never heard of before; her curiosity peaked, she leaned in trying to listen in to the conversation.

"That's a hard question to answer Bird." The Hokage's voice resonated from behind the door. "As of right now, I can't think of anyone to send for help; most of the village's strongest shinobi are out on the field."

Inside the room, the Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen is currently siting on his desk with a hard look on his face. Across from him is an ANBU named Bird, who had been relegated by the ANBU Captain to inform the Hokage of the current crises of Uzushigakure.

Hiruzen had immediately called for a meeting to discuss a course of action after he realized that Kushina hadn't come at her regular time. It would not due to involve an academy student with adult matters, especially ones involving Uzushiogakure.

"Are you insinuating that it would be better to wait while the army of Iwa shinobi mentioned in the letter gets closer and closer to finishing their war ships?" said an old grey haired woman with green and red bead earrings. "By then it could already be too late!" Hiruzen looked over towards Koharu Utatane, his former teammate who is currently standing near the far wall with Homura Mitokado, and bit back a retort that was forming at the back of his mind; it wouldn't be productive.

He remained silent, thinking deeply. He knew even if he sent help to Uzushiogakure it would take roughly two weeks to reach them. By then the fighting would have most likely started. Only the most able of shinobi should participate in a battle involving a thousand shinobi or more. He could send Chunin level shinobi, but that's equivalent to sending them to their deaths. Hiruzen had nothing in the fore front of his mind that he could think of that could help the situation and produce the least amount of casualties.

"Perhaps I can help Hiruzen." said a gruff and aged voice. "It would not due to lose our village's long time allies."

"What do you have in mind, Danzo?" Hiruzen asked skeptically as he turned his gaze towards Danzo, one of his other former teammates.

"Root." Danzo said simply.

"No." Hiruzen leveled a stern gaze at Danzo, which only served to gain Danzo's ire.

"See reason Hiruzen! What else can you possibly do?!" Koharu and Homura nod to Danzo's judgment, seeing no problems with it.

The sound of a chair falling on the ground startles Kushina, but she managed to cover her mouth before any sound came out.

"Root is an organization that I have never approved of Danzo! I have already ordered its disbandment by the end of this month!" Hiruzen narrowed his eyes on Danzo who narrowed his eyes back.

Root is an ANBU training subdivision conceived by Danzo. They are loyal to Danzo and him only. Formed to deal with Konoha's shadier business, they carry out the missions that Danzo deems necessary to benefit Konoha. Most of the missions carried out by Root are done in secret, even from the Hokage who regulates all missions. They are the unseen ones who support the great tree of Konoha from the depths of the Earth; toppling all of Konoha's obstacles.

The room went silent. Only the sound of breathing and pacing could be heard. Kushina who didn't know what was going on pressed on closer towards the door to hear better.

"Very well Hiruzen." Danzo's voice was laced in frustration. "At least I tried to help while you sit here and do nothing!"

"I never said I would do nothing! I just don't approve of Root, an organization solely loyal to you!" The Hokage smashed a fist to his desk for emphasis. "Don't think that I don't know that you send them out on missions without notifying me!"

"That doesn't matter Hiruzen! Look at the bigger picture! As we stand here and bicker amongst each other the enemy is preparing themselves!"

"Don't you think I already know that? I haven't been through the First and Second Shinobi World Wars for nothing!" Hiruzen picked up the chair that he had knocked over as he stood up and sits back down on it."I will not stand idle while Uzushigakure gets attacked by an army of two thousand Iwa shinobi!" A choked gasp comes from the door of the Hokage's office, but is dampened as Danzo and Hiruzen exchange heated words with each other.

"Peace Danzo, Hiruzen. This meeting was not called in order for us to continue bickering about Root." said Homura as he walked in-between Hiruzen and Danzo, placating them. "Were all teammates here." he said referring to the people in the room, minus the ANBU who stood by the corner.

"Hiruzen, perhaps you can use this mission as a test run for Root?" Homura said as he looked towards Hiruzen.

"N-"

"I agree with them," Koharu said, cutting off Hiruzen's denial as she stepped up beside Homura. "It is unreasonable to disband Root when it has not been officially tested out on the field."

Hiruzen sighed; his former teammates had yet again taken Danzo's side to oppose him. Although they had a point, the Hokage's word is final. He would wait until a time when more Jounin level ninja arrive back from the field before sending reinforcements.

"I appreciate your advice Koharu, Homura, and Danzo, but that is all it is, advice. My final answer is still no." Hiruzen puffed out clouds of smoke from his pipe and leaned back on his chair as he waited for their reply. Homura and Koharu were the first to vocalize their discontent with Hiruzen, but Danzo simply remained silent. Hiruzen though, could tell that he was up to something; something that he wouldn't like, not in the slightest.

"Very well" Danzo said as he turned to leave the room in a sedate pace. Opening the door he revealed the pale, shell-shocked face of Kushina Uzumaki to everyone present in the room. Danzo smiled as he had achieved his goal. By provoking Hiruzen he had let slip the attack on Uzushiogakure to Kushina who he had sensed from the moment she had arrived. With Kushina in the know of things, Hiruzen will be pressured into sending reinforcements to Uzu as soon as possible, thus limiting his options to one, Root. Danzo continued to walk off as Kushina rushed up to the Hokage and frantically asked why no actions had been taken to support Uzu yet.

* * *

><p>Hideki Uzumaki stood next to Toma Uzumaki, both staring hard at a specific scroll of sealing. They were in the Clan Head's Tower, in a room fitted heavily with security seals. Hideki nods his head at Toma who proceeded to pick up the scroll. Sending a pulse of chakra into the scroll, smoke exits out of it along with the sword that had healed Toma. It had appeared wrapped in a fine cloth embroidered with the highest level of protection seals. Toma bit his thumb causing blood to pool out and smeared it onto the cloth. The cloth unwrapped itself as it recognized an Uzumaki's blood, revealing Woundhealer, the sword that had created a miracle inside.<p>

"It's odd isn't it?" said Hideki as he took a closer inspection of Woundhealer. "That such a mundane looking blade can posses such a power." Toma only nodded his head, he himself studying Woundhealer carefully.

"Could it be that with the birth of Shirou, we have unlocked a hidden Uzumaki blood line?" Toma asked after his own inspection of Woundhealer.

"Perhaps," Hideki picked up Woundhealer and a feeling of vitality washed over him. It made him feel as if he was fifty years younger. As a matter of fact, before he had picked up Woundhealer he had already felt its effects. As a result he had decided to feel the difference in effect if he came in contact with it. "Or perhaps it's a mutation."

"What do you mean by mutation Hideki-san?" Toma said as he brought his hand and placed it on his chin.

"A mutation might have occurred in our blood line." Hideki placed Woundhealer down and the feeling of vitality evaporated. "Just as Kushina can create corporal chains of chakra, perhaps it has mutated in Shiro; causing him instead to create corporal swords that heal instead of chains."

"It's plausible Hideki-san, but there is a flaw in that reasoning." Toma walked up to Woundhealer and tapped at its hilt. "If this is a mutated variant of Kushina's chakra chains, why then has it not yet disappeared?" Hideki nodded to Toma's point. After a brief moment of silence a look of awe adorned Hideki's face.

"Toma, do you believe that this construct will ever disappear?" Hideki asked pressingly. Toma walked over to the sword and began drawing a seal to inspect the chakra that made up Woundhealer. He was surprised to discover that not only is the chakra able to maintain itself indefinitely, but it also contains the unknown energy detected by Hideki on the day of Shirou's birth. His face must have shown his surprise because Hideki had begun smiling.

"It won't disappear; will it Toma?" Toma nodded his head in response, choosing to verbally inform Hideki of his findings later. "I believe I now know what Shirou possesses."

"What might that be Hideki-san?" Toma positioned himself to stand properly and looked towards Hideki.

"...The Creation of All Things." Hideki had lost his smile and replaced it with a reverent look. "It is one of the special abilities of The Sage of the Six Paths." Toma stood stunned. He knew of the stories of the sage, but to think that Hideki had just claimed that his son possesses the same power that the sage possessed; it was mind blowing.

The Sage of the Six Paths is the founder of Ninshu, which later led to the creation of the ninja world. Born in a time where chakra did not exist within people he defeated the rampaging ten tails, and created the nine tailed beasts. He later gave chakra to the world, and spread the teachings of Ninshu; Ninshu later becoming known as ninjutsu. He spawned two sons, Asura and Indra who each formed their own clans; the Senju and Uchiha.

"I have heard of the stories of the sage, yet I've never heard of this power before Hideki-san." Toma said as he tried to wrap his mind around what Hideki had stated.

"That is simply because it isn't taught. Only someone of my age could possibly know." Hideki placed Woundhealer back on the embroidered cloth, wrapped it, and sealed it away again inside the scroll as he was talking. "The Creation of All Things is an ability that let the sage create things from nothing. The created object never fades which explains why Kumo is said to possess the sage's shakujo or monk's staff. Sadly that is all I know of the sage's Creation of All Things."

The Creation of All Things is a technique that had been utilized by the sage to create the nine tailed beasts. Using a combination of administrated imagination and the spiritual energy which forms the basis of Yin chakra, the sage created physical forms from nothingness. Then, through the application of vitality, and the physical energy which forms the basis of Yang chakra he breathed life into the creations.

Yin chakra is the spiritual energy that governs imagination. It can be used to create form out of nothingness, which is why it's mainly used in genjutsu. Yang chakra is the physical energy that governs vitality. It can be used to breathe life into things, and is often used by medical ninja to heal wounds.

"You're certain that Shirou possesses this power?" Toma asked incredulously. "To create things from nothing?"

"Didn't you just witness it yourself when the sword formed and materialized above you?" Hideki answered with a question. Toma did not say anything back. "Perhaps his ability is not just limited to swords; we will have to see as Shirou ages."

"But how can Shirou possess The Creation of All Things?" Hideki began walking out of the room and Toma followed after him.

"As Uzumaki we are distant relatives of the Senju who are related to the sage." Hideki said seriously. "Therefore it should be possible for an Uzumaki to obtain powers possessed by him; Shirou being the first ever individual in recorded history to obtain The Creation of All Things."

Hideki and Toma reached the outside of the Clan Head's Tower and began roof hopping in the direction of Toma and Shizuka's house. As they passed the multiple high-rise buildings they continued to discuss the matter of Shirou. It wasn't till they reached the bridge that Toma decided to inform Hideki of his findings when he had performed a scan of Woundhealer.

"The mysterious secondary power you sensed on the day of Shirou birth is present in the sword." Toma said as he and Hideki were traversing the bridge. "What do you think of this matter Hideki-san?"

"We can say nothing as of right now; we have too little evidence to categorize it as anything we know of." Hideki said seriously. "But perhaps this energy is necessary to perform The Creation of All Things; it is a mystery even to me how the sage accomplished such a feat." Toma and Hideki remained quite on their way until Hideki asked a question up for debate.

"What should we call the sword?" Hideki asked Toma.

"What about Sōshō chiyu no ha (Wound Healing Blade)? It did heal me after all."

"Too long, try again."

"Hīringuburēdo (Healing Blade)?" Hideki shook his head as Toma took a full five minutes to come up with the name and all he did was remove 'Wound' from the title.

"Whatever Toma, I'll just ask Shizuka to help name the blade." Toma dropped his head down in shame. Arriving at his house Toma appeared inside in a flurry of leaves followed by Hideki. As they both looked around the house they couldn't spot Shizuka, Tsuki, or Shirou anywhere. It was odd so Toma began searching the floor they had arrived on until he had heard a sound; a sound that seemed to be coming from...His study. Running up the stairs as fast as his chakra enhanced legs could take him; he reached his study and pried the door open only to see that one of his worst nightmares had come to fruition.

"SHIZUKA WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Scrolls lay everywhere, papers were disorganized, the room was a complete mess, and fuinjutsu seals were activated, further enhancing the sense of disarray in the room. In the center of it all Shizuka was creating another game meant for Shirou through fuinjutsu, until Toma had yelled at her. She smiled sheepishly at his direction and continued to work on her project even as Toma glared at her. Hideki soon walked in to see what the commotion was all about. As for the other occupants of the room, Tsuki stood at attention as she witnessed Toma and Hideki enter the room, while Shirou who sat next to the window turned his head in their direction.

"Welcome back Hideki-sama, Toma-sama." Tsuki greeted them, but the look Toma had in his eyes as he stared at her unnerved her.

Toma treasured his study, often treating it as a second home. He would spend most of his days inside coming up with new ideas for fuinjutsu or just to relax from a busy day. Just as some men have their man caves, Toma had his own, and that is what his study is to him. He had feared that one day Shizuka would surpass the boundaries of his study, but he had not expected it to be so soon. His research had been destroyed, the time spent on them wasted. But most upsetting of all, his haven had been breached. No longer would he get his needed alone time in the day. No longer would he be able to research in blissful silence. He believed that the gods had gone too far in their twisted sense of entertainment. He could deal with an unlucky but honorable death, but this was going too far. _I curse you, let your days be-be plagued by evil! Evil you hear me! Evil! _Toma internally cursed the gods who he believed to have caused his misfortune as a single tear streamed from both of his eyes. He would later hold a funeral for his study on different day.

"Why Tsuki? Why didn't you stop her for me?" Toma slowly asked Tsuki, each word causing Tsuki to take a small step back, until her back pressed against a wall. She had watched how Toma seemed to close in on himself, body rigid as a single tear streamed from both of his eyes. In conclusion, she didn't feel comfortable in Toma's presence at the moment.

"I tried Toma-sama, but..." Tsuki just pointed at Shizuka's direction after she mustered her courage. Toma sighed losing any anger towards Tsuki and directed it at his wife.

"Shizuka! I demand an explanation for this-this sacrilege!" Shizuka didn't answer Toma until she had placed the completed fuinjutsu game in front of Shirou.

"For Shirou." Shizuka said simply, walking up to Toma.

"ARE YOU INSANE! Of all the places inside our house, why did it have to be my STUD-is that a chicken?" A chicken enters Toma's point of view as it pecks at a stray piece of paper. A brief silence passes as Hideki laughs heartily in the background and Toma's visible eyebrow twitches. Shizuka looks at it and just continued to smile sheepishly at Toma. "Shizuka, why is there a chicken in my study?" Toma's voice turned icy.

"Well I remembered that you said you liked chicken, so I thought Shirou would as well." Shizuka crossed her fingers behind her back and moved away from Toma as she began to feel threatened by his sudden change in presence.

"You know full and well that I meant that comment as food." Toma took a step towards Shizuka for every word he spoke. "Prepare yourself Shizuka for you have gone too far" A squirrel looks up from its position above a cabinet and notices Toma making his way towards Shizuka. Wanting to protect Shizuka, who had been kind enough to give feed him it jumped and landed on Toma's face; knocking him over. Shizuka sweat dropped as her husband began battling to get the squirrel off his face.

"Enough of this nonsense, though it was funny at first there are more important things to discuss." Hideki said as he grabbed the squirrel with a chakra laced hand and pried it from Toma's face. Toma stood up angrily, scratch marks predominantly on his face and hands, but he made no moves towards Shizuka. Hideki motioned for Toma and Shizuka to follow him out of the room, leaving Tsuki to watch over Shirou. They all arrived in the living room and sat down on the couches located in the middle of the room.

"Our first topic of discussion is naming the sword that Shirou created." Hideki began. "I had let Toma decide, but his naming sense is lacking, will you do the honors Shizuka?" A cloud formed above Toma's head as Hideki had yet again criticized his naming sense.

"Sure thing Ojii-san." Shizuka took a moment to think. "How about Inochi no onjin (Life Saver)?"

"It's a simple name, but then again it is a simple looking blade; Very well then." Hideki got up as he sensed a presence approaching their location. The ANBU wearing the Seagull mask appears in a flurry of leaves.

"The Iwa shinobi have been spotted two-to-three kilometers south of our village. There is still no sign of the Kiri shinobi."

"Did Konoha mention how long until their back up arrives in the letter?"

"That wasn't mentioned, but they did say that help is on the way." Hideki just nodded his head as a sign to dismiss the ANBU and raised his hand into a seal. "Kai." A multitude of seals surrounding Uzushiogakure's terrain shined a dull blue as they activated.

* * *

><p>Emiko stood standing near the helm of the lead warship, her hair blown back as the winds and river current rocked the ship back and forth. They had entered Uzushio's water's a day prior and were now but a mere two kilometers away from the village, but the Uzumaki had expected them to arrive by the wide river. Explosions went off as a war ship to the far right of the arrow head formation had to dock due to taking extensive damage to its hull. Emiko clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth and ordered for the rest of the ships to dock, they would have to reach Uzushiogakure on foot.<p>

Emiko got off the war ship and rallied the Iwa shinobi under her. Picking out a hundred of the best Iwa-nin to accompany her she instructed the weakest Iwa-nin to advance first and act as a vanguard for the main unit. Emiko figured that the Uzumaki had probably laid traps not just on the water, but on the land as well so she used a cruel yet efficient tactic. She had sent the Genin level ninja to die and instructed the rest of the Iwa shinobi to follow the paths of the Genin's who lived. As the Genin level Iwa shinobi traveled over the hills that made up Uzushio's terrain many died from explosions, incineration, and disembodiment. The Genin's died valiantly to secure a path for the rest, they were Iwa shinobi after all; they would not hesitate to fulfill orders.

"How many of our shinobi died to reach this point?" Emiko asked Gari, the captain of the Explosion Corps of Iwa. He wore the Iwagakure Jounin flak jacket, combat pants, and had his spiky light-brown hair standing on end like an afro. Though he is stronger than Emiko he was not put in charge of the mission because Emiko had proven more competent at ordering shinobi on the field.

"Two hundred Genin, and fifteen Chunin died." Gari said as he followed Emiko through a path led by a Genin. "It won't affect the outcome of the battle though. I can take on a hundred Uzumaki by myself and prevail." Gari said confidently as he raised a palm, small wisps of chakra coming out of it.

"Whatever Gari, but don't get to over confident; we are dealing with Uzumaki." Emiko remembered her prior battle with one. Though injured, she still fought as well as an average Chunin. "They are known to fight differently from regular shinobi using that fancy fuinjutsu of theirs."

"There's no way that their fuinjutsu can ever surpass my 'Explosion Release', but I'll take your advice Emiko." Gari said as he, Emiko, and the troops she lead, began following another Genin after the Genin whose path they were following perished in a wave of kunai.

An hour later the Iwa shinobi had lost around three hundred of their forces to the traps laid on the hill-side terrain yet they still had another kilometer to go. Emiko had become impatient and had begun to cut at a dead body of a Genin she ran into to calm herself down; it wouldn't due to enter a battle without a level head. Gari and the other Jounin level Iwa shinobi stopped to wait as their commander hacked her frustration away. As they waited Gari noticed a fresh set of tracks leading in a similar direction towards Uzushiogakure.

"Emiko would you like to take our chances with this path here? It seems to have been used fairly recently." Emiko looked in the direction and decided that it was the same either way, so she agreed. Sending their weakest shinobi as a vanguard, they followed the path. Miraculously, no traps were set off, and if there was a trap spotted, it seemed to have already been deactivated. As they approached a distance of two hundred meters from Uzushiogakure, the path veered off to the right towards a wide hidden crevice. In that crevice an army of two hundred shinobi were resting as some treated their fellow shinobi who had been caught in the traps on the way to their current location. Based on their head bands Emiko deducted that they were from Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in The Mist.

"Well-well-well, if it isn't a group of pathetic Kiri shinobi." Emiko said as she blatantly walked up to them confident in her capabilities. "What pray tell, are you doing here?" she smiled at the prospect of cutting enemies as she sensed that some had begun to ready themselves to fight. Before anything can happen though, a tall, muscular Jounin level Kirigakure shinobi parted from his group to meet with Emiko. He wore the standard Kirigakure Jounin flak jacket, had short-blue spiky hair, and wielded a massive blade that resembled a butcher's knife. His most prominent feature was a tattoo of parallel lines in a grid like pattern that ran across the lower half of his face.

"We are here on orders by the Mizukage to annihilate Uzushiogakure." The man glared at Emiko fearlessly. "What business do you have here?" If Emiko was surprised by his admission, she didn't show it, but rather she just began laughing. She stopped however when the man heaved his gigantic sword over his shoulder in an intimidating manor.

"We are here on orders by the Tsuchikage to annihilate Uzushiogakure as well." Emiko drawled out lazily. The man lowered his sword after realizing it would be counter productive to fight a group with the same objective. Emiko too, had come to the same conclusion.

"We will join your group in an attack on Uzushiogakure, do you have any protests?" The leader of the Kiri-nin said. Emiko didn't bother to say anything as she made a lazy shrug and walked out of the crevice with Gari and the rest of the Iwa shinobi to begin their attack. The Kiri-nin soon followed, led by Makoto the current wielder of Kubikiribōchō, and member of The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of The Mist. They would co-operate with Iwa, but they would not obey their orders.

* * *

><p><strong>Special thanks to souvikkundu0017 for providing Information<strong>


	4. Uzushigakure Part 3

On a bright warm spring like day, an army of shinobi traveled swiftly over the many hills that spanned out towards the horizon, their arms hanging loosely by their sides to maximize their velocity. They were armored with shinobi plating and mesh wire to protect themselves, but that did nothing when the earth opened from underneath them, swallowing them whole, or when raging pressurized bullets of water ripped massive cavities through their chests. Yet this did not deter them in the slightest, far from deterring them, they used the deaths of their comrades as a means to locate safe traveling paths.

Near the back of the army, were the strongest individual shinobi: Gari of the Explosion Release, Emiko the Bloody Blade Mistress of Iwa, and Man Slayer Makoto one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of The Mist. There are others of course, but their capabilities can't compare to the shinobi's mentioned.

As they continued to traverse the hill-side terrain, tensions ran high as shinobi of different head bands regarded each other suspiciously, not trusting the other with their backs. Correspondingly, they singled each other out and formed groups with shinobi of similar headbands. Groups from Kirigakure hung back to remain close to Makoto, their commanding Jounin, while those from Iwa just continued on, confident in their numbers. As they passed over the top of a large hill littered with traps, the main village of Uzushiogakure could be seen standing tall at the base of a carved out hill. From their vantage point at the top of the hill, the wide river that Iwa had planned to attack from could be seen encompassed by the village.

With renewed vigor, the shinobi let loose a battle cry and charged towards the village, intent on ending things as soon as possible before Konoha can aide the Uzumaki. As they charged forth in a wave of bodies and determination, seals of various kinds lit up in their surroundings. One set of seals began erupting massive quantities of heavy mist, effectively depriving the advancing shinobi of visibility. The Kiri-nin however, were unaffected by the mist and continued on, following behind Makoto as he took the lead of the incursion.

During the time that the Kiri-nin took lead of the incursion, the Iwa-nin left behind were being massacred by apparitions of phantasmal beasts conjured up by seals hidden in the mist. Attacks were futile against them for they would only pass straight on through their translucent bodies and continue on to hit the ground, or other unsuspecting Iwa-nin. Their numbers depleting, Emiko ordered for the few wind element based shinobi to clear the mist with wind jutsu, but they only managed to clear the mist temporarily as more mist flowed from the sealing tags. Emiko narrowed her eyes in concentration as she had only caught a glimpse of a few sealing tags as the mist had cleared for a moment. Relying more on instinct than on memory, she threw six kunai in six different directions aiming for the seals; only one had missed its intended target, and only by a mere inch.

The mist began clearing, making the locations of the other seals obvious to the Iwa-nin who began destroying them which in turn, wiped out the phantasmal beasts. As the beasts dissipated cheers began to emanate from the Iwa-nin for their small, yet blood soaked victory. They had lost a startling two hundred shinobi to the beasts, and another four hundred to reach their current position. The Iwa shinobi now numbered around a thousand four hundred. Six hundred less from what they started from.

Back with the Kiri-nin, Makoto heedlessly charged through various defensive seals and destroyed them along the way, paving a path for his shinobi to follow. He had sustained little to no injury due to his speed, which he used to destroy trap seals before their activation. Speed be that as it may, is not a constant factor though. Makoto began to slow down as his body protested against the strain being placed upon it by his rapid and swift movements, giving the seals enough time to activate.

Tempestuous winds began to emerge from seals directly in front of Makoto, sending him flying back towards the rear of the formation that formed with him in the lead as secondary seals beside the wind seals spewed out cataclysmic hell fire that ignited further through the wind; increasing its transmission. Makoto unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on which side you were on, had been one of the few lucky enough to have only been struck by strong winds instead of the raging inferno that had incinerated those caught within it. Groggily he stood up as he began to survey what had happened to his platoon of shinobi.

The smell of burnt flesh invaded Makoto's nostrils as he assessed the capabilities of his remaining shinobi. Of the two hundred that had arrived with Makoto, fifty had just been killed, their remains just the ash that covered the ground as the smell of their burnt flesh predominated the devastated hill-side. As Makoto took a moment to rally his team and maintain a sense of order, Gari with a detached unit of Iwa-nin, over took him and made a beeline towards Uzushiogakure, confident in his and his unit's capabilities.

The village was now only two-hundred meters away, and Gari had used this information as a means to motivate the shinobi that followed him. Some, through sheer drive and motivation caught up to Gari and over took the lead from him. Those who did however were subject to more traps of a different make. Although the Uzumaki are known for their fuinjutsu, it doesn't mean that they aren't proficient in regular trap making. The trap that had been activated as a Iwa-nin triggered a trip wire held above the ground by two stakes four meters apart hidden in the grass, activated a series of other traps that all lead to one grand conclusion. The ground underneath them caved in all the way up to a portion of the wide river located outside of Uzushiogakure's defensive walls, which in turn flooded the area with river water.

Gari and his unit had all been caught in a tide of unrelenting water, weighing more than a few cubic tons, but they weren't called shinobi for nothing. Most who had survived, including Gari had surfaced to the top; balancing on the surface of the water using water walking. They were drenched from head to toe and their attire which had soaked up copious amounts of water heavily weighed them down. The trap however, had yet to finish. As the ground had caved in, it triggered another set of traps which shot seals of a specific kind into the air floating above the water. It wasn't until they made contact with the surface of the river that its effects were realized.

The scent of ozone began to permeate passed the smell of burnt flesh as electric charges shot there way through the water and reached the drenched shinobi which electrified them; the electric current coursed through their veins, frying them from the inside out. Gari however, had been smart enough to reach land before the tags had come in contact with the water, thus saving his life.

With the death of Gari's unit, the Iwa-nin were down to a thousand three hundred shinobi; a little bit over a half of their forces remained. Emiko who had been observing the battle field from the back had decided to approach things in a more roundabout way. _Why play into the enemies hands when you could do something about it?_ she thought as she had ordered for the Iwa-nin to halt and perform wide area of effect earth based ninjutsu attacks to uproot the terrain; destroying laid out traps before they could even activate. Where once there was a rolling hill of tall-green wild grass, now there was only the upturned earth, reminiscent of Iwa's rocky plains. Emiko smiled as she had just created a safe path straight towards Uzushiogakure.

"Attack!" she yelled as she raised an arm and swiftly lowered it. The army of a thousand three hundred Iwa shinobi charged; some intent on taking revenge for their comrades, while others simply did it for the glory. Makoto seeing that a clear path had been made, lead his remaining forces to follow after the Iwa-nin.

The shinobi army comprised of Iwa-nin and Kiri-nin charged forth, passing the hundred and fifty meter mark, followed by the hundred meter mark; then the fifty. As they reached a distance of twenty five meters, the leading shinobi crashed into an invisible wall, stopping him in his tracks, which stopped the shinobi behind him and so on. They had reached an impasse.

* * *

><p>"They have reached the great barrier, Toma-sama" Tsuki said as she returned from her position at Uzushiogakure's walls. "Our traps seemed to have killed off around nearly half of Iwa's and Kiri's combined force."<p>

"So the Kiri-nin followed me back and joined with Iwa I see." Toma said as he recalled his earlier encounter with the Kiri shinobi. He had not expected to be ambushed on his patrol by the shared border of Kiri and Uzu, but a shinobi's life is always full of surprises. He had defeated a fair few, but based on the amount of damage he had sustained during the battle, he concluded that their forces were mainly comprised of Elite Jounin level shinobi; he had been lucky to have had gotten away.

"Shall I inform our shinobi to mobilize for an attack against them?" Tsuki looked up to Toma for instruction. Hideki had announced him as the new Clan Head moments prior to Iwa and Kiri's attack on their home front. Although many Uzumaki wished to celebrate on behalf of Toma's succession, it was not the proper time.

"Don't. You know as well as I what will occur if any Uzumaki were to get too close to the barrier." Toma walked over to a map of Uzushiogakure's topography. "Maneuver our forces here," Toma pointed at the Uzumaki armory, a room located near the southern wall of Uzushiogakure where the Iwa and Kiri-nin had arrived from, and are currently at. The armory is filled with blank sealing paper and tags ready for immediate use. "And here." Toma pointed at the entrance of where all the bridges spanned over the wide river converged to lead to the central village where most Uzumaki live.

"It will be done, Toma-sama." Tsuki body flickered away in a swirl of leaves as Toma looks toward the other occupants of the room.

"Shizuka, take Shirou and place him in the Clan Head's Tower. If the fighting were to begin, move him to the shelters, it will be the safest there." Shizuka nods her head and promptly disappears in a body flicker.

"Hideki-san, I believe that it would be best if you stayed out of the conflict and remained behind with our healers; your skills would be needed." Toma looked over towards Hideki as he waited for a response.

"You make it sound as if they will get through the great barrier; a feat I will remind you, that has not been accomplished since the Clan Wars." Hideki said with certainty and pride.

"That may be true, but it's best never to underestimate an opponent," Toma moved towards the window of his study and observed a battle between two hawks, one bigger and leaner than the other. The larger one, who had the advantage, began to take his time as it encircled its foe, confident in its capabilities. "It could just be our down fall." The smaller hawk, more swift and agile shot off towards the larger hawk that couldn't react in time due to its own negligence. Aiming its sharp beak towards the larger bird, it impaled him in the chest; causing said bird to plummet to the ground.

"Very well then," Hideki said while walking out of the room, but he turned around just before exiting. "Toma," he said with wisdom in his voice. "Take Lifesaver with you 'if' the barrier were to fall." Toma listened quietly. "As Clan Head, you need to lead our shinobi into battle. Lifesaver would be of a better use to us out on the battlefield; healing the injured."

"Wouldn't it be better if I left Lifesaver with you at the hospital where the injured will be transported too?" Toma questioned as he looked bewilderedly at Hideki, not understanding his reasoning.

"Would you rather the critically injured die before they can even reach the hospital?" Hideki turned back towards the door and left, leaving his question hanging unanswered in the room. Toma sighed, the brunt of the situation weighing heavily on his shoulders. Taking a few minutes to grab a few things from his study, he left for the Clan Head's Tower to better command his shinobi.

He jumped from roof to roof as his fellow kinsmen below him evacuated civilians to the shelters all around the Clan Head's Tower. A tremor to the south of the village draws Toma's attention as numerous shadows casted themselves over Uzushiogakure. Falling from the sky were giant boulders launched into the air by Iwa shinobi who had used their earth based ninjutsu to their advantage. They fell like meteors as they struck against the barrier, yet the barrier absorbed the impacts of the boulders and reflected them back outwards; sending them over the hills.

The Uzumaki smiled as their great barrier defended them from harm just as it always had. Reaching The Clan Head's Tower, Toma entered to find Shizuka holding onto Shirou as they both looked up at the sky; watching as the remaining boulders were repelled against the great barrier.

* * *

><p>He watched as the sky rained boulders down from the heavens from his position cradled in his mother's arms. His od hummed with his chakra as his circuits warmed in preparation to project Rho Aias to defend against the onslaught of falling debris, but it wasn't meant to be as they had been repelled by what he believed to be a bounded field; and a strong one at that. He was wrong however, since it didn't function on prana, but rather on chakra.<p>

Chakra was still a mystery to him, one that he would eventually fully uncover. From what he has gleamed so far, it's versatile and works efficiently along side prana to reinforce his body and project his weaponry, but by sheer coincidence, he had discovered that chakra is made of two components. Consequently, he began experimenting on them, but he has still yet to discover anything.

As he lay still, cradled in his mother's arms, staring up at the sky, his father appeared dressed in the old Uzumaki clan armor as a symbol of his status as Clan Head. His mother turned to face his father and walked up to him, giving him a kiss as he held her in his arms; he cradled in-between them.

While his parents were busy greeting each other, he looked around the room and noticed, not for the first time the presence of weirdly shaped symbols that reminded him of things that his mother and father had constructed before. At the time that he had first witnessed his mother and father creating said weird symbols, he had toddled over to one to examine it by running a finger across the created patterns; prompting his father to immediately pull him out of the way as it exploded and produced a small crater. He had been placed behind a safety gate to prevent him from touching any more of the strange symbols on the paper. The experience had reminded him greatly of rune magic.

Rune magic is a type of magecraft that originated from Scandinavia. They are symbols that once inscribed automatically realize mysteries accordingly with the meaning that they represent; they are only composed of straight lines. His encounters with rune magic had been few, but he understood their basic effects to a degree. He had not taken the time to further learn about them since he prioritized in projection and reinforcement, but he had been given brief lessons on them by Rin when he had asked her. Briefly, he pondered the idea of trying to replicate some of the runes he had encountered on his days as an enforcer, but he ultimately chose not to since he didn't know where to start.

His point of view changed as his mother set him on the ground while she discusses tactics with his father. Seeing an opportunity, he stood up shakily on his legs and began to walk over towards the nearest glowing symbol, intent on observing it and understanding its functioning's; he had graduated from toddling and began walking at eight months old. Peering over the first glowing symbol, he noticed that the strokes and brushes that made it up weren't just straight lines like the runes that he had been familiar with, but rather it was comprised of shapes and characters similar to Japanese Kanji. He reached out to touch a character which he recognized as 'activate' to see its effects.

"Bad Shirou!" his mother pats his hand away before he could touch the 'activate' character and hoisted him back up into her arms. She then walks up to a high chair and placed him in it, so that he remained in front of his father and mother's view. He silently lamented as he was yet again reminded of his limited freedom as a baby. He would later ask himself why he didn't just attempt to structurally grasp the symbol when he had the chance, and even further in time he would blame it on his short attention span as a baby.

He watched as his father and mother continued talking and winced slightly when his mother began yelling at his father who had ordered her to stay away from the front lines if the 'great barrier' they had called it, fell. Her yelling however, had no effect on his fathers decision as he began listing the reasons as to why she shouldn't be on the front lines; the main reason being his safety. She didn't relent however and used his father's reasoning against him, but his father already had a response. "It's my duty as Clan Head to lead our people." he had said, but his mother would have none of it. Although his father's reasoning is sound, human actions aren't always reasonable. In the end his mother had somehow convinced his father to change his mind.

His father left the room and promptly returned back with a sealed scroll. The sight of the scroll had drawn his attention because it was the same scroll that he recalled Woundhealer to have been placed on. His father placed it inside a pouch by his left leg as his mother began conversing with his father again. Time seemed to drag on as he silently watched his parents hold a war council for hours, until his mother had taken him into a separate room to sleep in. Exhausted from watching his parents discuss 'what if' plans for hours on end, he fell asleep as the stars could be seen in the sky.

* * *

><p>"Six days! It's been six fucking days! And we still can't bypass this damn barrier!" Emiko said inside a room by the camp they had set up beside Uzushiogakure. Numerous times they had tried to gain access to the village and numerous times did they fail. It was severely frustrating since many had hoped to end the conflict as soon as possible, the longer they waited the sooner Konoha could arrive with reinforcements. The old man Tsuchikage would not be happy with wasted deaths, but by how the situation is turning out Konoha could arrive at any moment and destroy them in a pincer attack with Uzu. Clenching her fists together she slammed them on a make-shift desk inside the room where they were holding a war council. "I've had enough of waiting; I'll find a way to destroy the barrier myself!"<p>

She walked out of the room that was comprised of her, Gari, and Makoto, and began walking to the point where she had witnessed the barrier to be. She had watched on the sidelines as Gari and Makoto tried fruitlessly to puncture the barrier with concentrated high level jutsu's, but that didn't work. Nor did it work when she had joined them in their efforts from an area where it was deemed no traps had been laid. _No,_ she decided, _this was not a barrier to be bypassed by sheer brute force, but by intelligence and wit._ She would need to calm down from her raging frustration of the situation to think clearly. Taking out a lock of red hair which she had claimed from the Uzumaki she had defeated as a trophy, she stared at it; remembering the short, but satisfying battle that had occurred.

The red lock wasn't the only item she had pulled out from her shinobi pouch, she had also pulled out other locks of hair; each from different battles that had brought out a sense of thrill, danger, joy, and accomplishment from her. They served their purpose as she began to calm down the more she stared at the locks; reliving her past battles. Placing them back in her shinobi pouch located at her back, she began her observations of the barrier by tossing a stone that was on the ground at its general direction with no intended target. The stone wasn't hindered by anything, maintaining its trajectory as it hit Uzushiogakure's walls twenty five meters away.

When she had tossed a kunai however it had been deflected at the twenty five meter point rather than going straight through. Perplexed, she repeated her experiment and got the same results. _If a rock had been able to neglect the interference of the barrier, why then did our hail of boulders not do so as well?_ she thought analytically. _Perhaps it has something to do with the intent to do harm?_ she thought back to the rock hitting the wall. _No, that can't be right; otherwise the rock wouldn't have been able to impact against Uzu's walls._ She began pacing as a way to get blood to her head to think more clearly.

_It can stop shinobi in their tracks,_ she recalled their first initial charge. _It deflects ninjutsu,_ She thought back to Gari, Makoto, and her unleashing their strongest ninjutsu. _taijutsu,_ She thought back to when Gari had attempted to use his Explosion Release combined with his high level taijutsu and got no results. _and projectiles_. She thought back to her thrown kunai and the hail of boulders. _This barrier is impenetrable!_ She finally concluded.

A blue flicker appeared in the air at the location of the barrier as she had paced to close to it. The very same blue flicker turned into a visible hole. Mystified, she took a step back and the small hole disappeared. Taking a minute to assess her findings, she took a step back towards the barrier. The hole had appeared again. Quickly, she took out a kunai and threw it into the hole. It traversed through the barrier. _Have I found a way in?_ She began walking closer and closer towards the barrier, while the hole grew larger and larger until it had reached a size of five by four meters. She smiled in victory and began to return towards their encampment. The hole in the barrier closed up as she got farther and farther away, yet she never noticed it resonating with a lock of red hair.

* * *

><p>"The barrier has been breached! Send word t-" Emiko cut the Uzumaki down before he could fully relay his message, but she had been too late as other Uzumaki had already heard the warning. Alarms sounded as the Uzumaki began gathering in an attempt to subdue the Iwa and Kiri army. Their efforts however proved useless as they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of shinobi.<p>

Many had been gravely injured and near death, but it seemed that the Uzumaki had prepared for any and all 'what if' situations and that included the breaching of their barrier. It was for that reason that seals had been prepared and placed on Uzumaki shinobi before hand that would place a barrier around them to keep them alive until they could be retrieved and brought to the hospital. A few had been saved using this method, but many were to gravely injured, and died even before they were re-positioned over to the hospital.

Gari rushed forward, intent on testing his body's limits as he had been inactive for six days. He rushed up to a crowd of Uzumaki and using his exceptional speed to get in close before the Uzumaki could complete their seals, blasted holes through them using his "Explosion Release: Landmine Fist." They dropped and lay still on the ground, dead.

Makoto being of the same mind as Gari, charged into the fray, decapitating his enemies after nullifying their fuinjutsu, either by dodging or negating them with his own jutsu's; his skill with his blade unparalleled. What he found particularly annoying however, was when a barrier would pop out if he failed to kill his enemies through a grave injury, not that he would complain; he would rather fight than sit around for six days.

Emiko watched the battle play out from her position above the Uzumaki she had killed. She noticed that with the arrival of two Uzumaki, a man and a women the rest had been motivated to fight harder, more efficiently, and most of all, effectively. Oddly, the male of the two took off towards the injured, carrying with him a sword summoned from a scroll in his hand. It had bewildered her, Makoto and Gari when he had been let through the barrier that surrounded a wounded Uzumaki and stabbed him through the heart. That bewilderment changed to blatant disbelief as the injured Uzumaki instantly healed and stood up again; ready for battle.

As she, Makoto, and Gari stood rooted in place watching the man travel from wounded to wounded, stabbing them in their hearts, the women who had appeared alongside the man began drawing numerous fuinjutsu seals on many sealing tags; from those tags came out the raging elements. Water in the collected form of dragons, fire into the form of a phoenix, earth into the form of a giant golem, wind into miniature tornadoes, and lightning in the form of a fierce tiger. With the strength of the elements, many Iwa and Kiri shinobi were mowed down, but the majority still remained alive. The majority, with instruction from Emiko and Makoto who had snapped out of their daze began fighting back.

The first target they had destroyed was the phoenix of fire, due to Makoto and his unit of shinobi's water based ninjutsu attacks; quelling the flames of the phoenix until it smothered. It was by the orders of Emiko that the Iwa-nin took down the water dragons through their earth based ninjutsu, but that still left behind the giant golem, lightning tiger, and miniature tornadoes. The problem of the lightning tiger was solved however by Makoto who stabbed it through its chest with his sword, dispersing the lightning as it traveled down the sword's length and into the tip which was rooted into the ground.

Defeating the giant earth golem hadn't been as much of a problem for the Iwa-nin than the tiger would have been. They had simply opened a hole into the ground, which the golem fell into, and closed it over the golem. The miniature tornadoes were the main problem though. The attacks thrown at them had only served to increase their destructive capabilities; the water and earth based ninjutsu mixing along with the rapid winds.

Opening a hole like they had done for the earth golem would have been useless, since the tornadoes would only float above them. Emiko solved their predicament however, by ordering for the use of mass produced explosive tags, which disrupted the tornadoes rotation; causing them to dissipate as the debris they picked up were launched at shinobi of both sides.

"Aim for the Uzumaki with the sword! Killing him takes priority!" Gari yelled as he watched as another Uzumaki, which he previously left for dead, recuperated near instantly due to the efforts of said Uzumaki with the sword. Emiko nodded to Gari's judgment and relayed it to her troops as orders as her eyes drifted towards the sword that the man carried. _What an intriguing blade._ She thought as she had a flashback of its miraculous healing effects. _The Uzumaki don't deserve such a blade,_ She thought back to how the Uzumaki had hidden themselves behind their barriers and shook her head in disgust at what she believed to be a cowards tactic. _it should only be right that Iwa claims it as its own._

"Kill the Uzumaki, but take the blade!" As one, the Iwa shinobi charged, surrounding and converging on one. Single. Uzumaki. Noticing his predicament, the Uzumaki sealed the sword back into a scroll and activated the fuinjutsu seals etched onto his body.

"Fire release." he whispered silently as a set of seals activated on his hands, feet, and torso. Aiming a punch forward, an overflow of fire streamed out of it; shooting like a spear towards the Iwa-nin and incinerating a few before dispersing. Retracting his arm, he brought his right leg back and executed a jump spin hook kick as flames had begun streaming out from the seal on his right foot; sending a three-hundred and sixty degree flow of flames to delay the Iwa shinobi's charge.

The Iwa-nin faltered as they dodged the flow of flames that originated from the Uzumaki as he threw quick flurries of punches and whirling kicks in all directions. Having had enough of dodging, they began using their earth based ninjutsu; sending boulders, spears and dragons made of earth at the Uzumaki.

"Earth Release." The Uzumaki said to himself as the jutsu's focalized on him, resulting in an explosion that shot dust into the air. The dust cleared and settled, revealing a man sized hole in the ground where the Uzumaki had been. He appeared again a short distance away as he resurfaced from underground; a different set of seals activated on his hands, feat, and torso. He stomped on the ground prompting jagged boulders to surface from the earth in front of him, before he punched or kicked them; sending them sailing towards the nearest Iwa shinobi as he pulled out a large piece of sealing paper. Quickly writing a fuinjutsu seal on it, he activated it by sending a pulse of chakra inside; resulting in a pillar of wind to shoot down from the sky and blow away the army of Iwa-nin that had surrounded him. The attack though, had left him out of breath, creating a perfect opportunity to strike.

Emiko ran along side Gari on a collision course towards their target with an A-rank ninjutsu attack at the ready, but the woman who had appeared with the man suddenly materialized in front of them in a body flicker.

"You will not harm him!" the woman yelled as she kicked Emiko in the ribs, sending her flying back where she impacted against a building; leaving an impression onto the wall, soon after gravity pulled her towards the ground where she landed on her hands and knees. "I won't let you!" Gari was blown back by a blast of wind from a wind seal the woman had gotten onto his chest which shot him back and onto the wall Emiko imprinted mere moments ago.

"You bitch!" Emiko yelled as she stood up and spat blood from her mouth, murderous intent evident in her eyes. "Earth Release: Bed Rock Coffin!" The ground shook as multiple sections of rock shot out from the earth that surrounded the woman and limited her movements until there was nowhere left to go. Twin ginormous slabs of rock then shot up from the ground seeking to crush the woman as she formed a quick hand seal.

Emiko's eyes narrowed. "Earth Release: Earth Dragon!" A dragon formed from the dirt and gravel of the battle field and shot off towards the woman who had body flickered away before she could get crushed by the slabs of rock. It missed however as the woman had sent a concentrated blast of water at it, reducing it to mud. She made eye contact with the woman as the woman bolted towards her in a burst of speed.

_Advancing. Advancing._ The woman charged at her with sealing tags held in both hands. The first thrust of the woman's right hand grazed her side. She noticed too late that it was a feint though, when the second thrust doubled her over and expelled a bit of choked air from her lungs.

It wasn't that bad of a blow, despite having the wind knocked out of her; which she always hated. She stood straight, looking at the sealing tag implanted on her abdomen which hummed a foreboding tune reminiscent to most Wind Release jutsu's.

"Bye bye." The woman said as she began waving her off in a shooing motion, her cascading red hair enhancing her devious smile.

"Oh shi-" high turbulence winds exploded from the sealing tag, shooting her though the air like a comet.

The woman smiled as she watched Emiko fly off, quite proud of her handy work. Still though, even as she had separated the two, the fight was not over. She turned to face Gari who had stood up and began darting towards her direction, stopping a few meters away.

"You're good, to have been able to place a seal on me with my level of taijutsu, but I assure you, it won't happen again." Gari took a stance, left leg back and arms at the ready before shooting off to confront the woman. Having witnessed Gari's special capabilities in taijutsu, the woman retreated to make distance as she threw a set of kunai at him. He in response only deflected them by creating small explosions on his palms as he rushed at her, his speed to great to out run.

They engaged in a battle of taijutsu, Gari striking repetitively, while the woman did her best to dodge his crippling blows. It couldn't last forever however, as Gari hit a glancing blow to the woman's side, blowing up a small section of it. Blood spilled onto the ground as the woman continued to dodge while she used her left hand to slow the flow of blood pooling out. The injury, though not fatal, had slowed her down considerably, making even slow paced blows difficult to maneuver passed. The woman, having been injured, fell back on what all Uzumaki fell back on, their seals.

A fuinjutsu seal on a sealing tag lights up as the woman brought it out of her shinobi pouch; willing a concentrated flow of chakra into it through her right hand. Wary of a potentially dangerous attack, Gari disengaged the woman and stood back from a distance; watching intently as the woman placed the sealing tag onto the ground. From the tag appeared a featureless clone of him, its blank emotionless face staring impassively at him.

* * *

><p>Toma stood tall after recovering from a mild breathlessness that had befallen him after using an "Uzumaki style fuinjutsu: Great Wind." Although an effective attack to bring about damage to multiple enemies, it leaves the user breathless as the space around them suddenly turns catastrophic; creating a drop in pressure in the air, making it harder to breath.<p>

Breathing deeply to alleviate his symptoms of breathlessness, he noticed Shizuka engaged in a fight against one of the two Iwa shinobi who he had assumed to be the leaders of the Iwa army; the male of the two stuck in a building wall. _I best not leave Shizuka alone, it would be too dangerous._ Toma thought as he made his way towards Shizuka. Suddenly, a buzzing sound alerts him to an incoming projectile.

"Well if it isn't the lone border shinobi?" Makoto said as he loomed over Toma from his position crouched on the hilt of his sword which he had thrown to stand vertically in front of Toma's path. "It's strange really, I remember chopping off that left arm of yours." Makoto scrutinized Toma up and down, lingering on his left arm. "Is it the work of that sword you carry, hmm?"

Toma remained silent not wishing to give away any information to an enemy shinobi; especially matters related to Lifesaver, and indirectly its origin.

"Your silence tells it all." Makoto did a back flip over his sword, his right hand grabbing the hilt, taking his sword with him as he completed the action. "The name's Man Slayer Makoto," he heaved his butcher knife like blade over his shoulder. "Member of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist. And you?"

"Toma Uzumaki." Toma said simply, more focused on Shizuka as she continued battling. He watched as the female leader blasted off due to a wind seal and as the male leader of the Iwa-nin forced Shizuka into a bout of taijutsu in which she steadily began losing. He weaved to the right of Makoto to aide Shizuka, but he was forced to duck as the blade Makoto wielded zoomed over his head.

"It's rude not pay attention to an enemy." Makoto said as he finished the motion of his swing. He brought his left hand to the front of his chest and performed a half seal while he re-positioned his sword to his side. "It just might kill you." the area became engulfed in thick mist; obscuring the perception of everyone in the vicinity as Makoto slowly faded away as he performed his 'Hidden Mist Jutsu'.

_Damn it, I lost sight of Shizuka,_ Toma thought with a worried frown on his face. _Maybe I can-_The edge of Makoto's blade snaps him from his thoughts as it cuts a visible line onto his old Uzumaki armor. The blade had disappeared into the mist as soon as it completed its attack.

"Let this be a warning, there will not be a second time." Makoto's voice reverberated through the mist from all directions as Kiri-nin began surrounding Toma; they already used to navigating within the mist. Toma stilled as he felt their combined presence, only now noticing the gravity of his situation; he would have to worry about himself before Shizuka. Noticing the change in Toma's mind set Makoto grinned, his shark like teeth out on display as he began to anticipate a glorious battle; one that had the potential to push him to his absolute limits, in other words, a life or death battle. He remembered his earlier confrontation with Toma.

Back then it had been a spoiled victory; he being in perfect shape while Toma had already been injured, tired, and weary as he had made his way through a number of elite Kiri-shinobi; one having been a Kaguya with the "Dead Bone Pulse" blood line.

The Kaguya are a clan of bone users located at Kirigakure known for their savage battle tactics and archaic values. Few Kaguya however manage to obtain their said blood line. Those that do are feared on the battle field by enemy shinobi, and even by members of their own clan. The blood line lets users manipulate their own skeletal structure by infusing their calcium with chakra which let them control the growth and properties of their bones to their liking. The bones of a "Dead Bone Pulse" user can be condensed to such a degree that they become stronger than steel; making their body nearly indestructible.

He had let Toma go after severing his left arm as he fled, but he did not think that he would see him in action again, or even alive for that matter. Still though, if Toma could make his way through an encampment of elite Kiri shinobi, surely he would provide a magnificent fight.

"Men." The Kiri shinobi perked up and listened closely. "Continue the assault, I will face him alone." As some nodded and left, others remained behind hesitant until they remembered their Jounin leader's temper and body flickered off. "That goes for you vermin as well." His killer intent became palpable as a sign for the Iwa shinobi to back off, some did but others hadn't. He, as a result began to kill off the brave few, all the while, he remained undetected; hidden in the mist.

Toma's senses heightened as he witnessed the remaining fifty or so Iwa shinobi get massacred. They were not killed individually, no, it would take to long, but rather they were killed in groups.

Makoto is known as the "Man Slayer" not because of his high proficiency in killing, but in his methods of killing large groups quickly and effectively. His favorite tactic involves the use of grouping his enemies together using water clones to surround them, then jumping in to the middle and hacking away.

It did not matter what the enemy shinobi would do, simply because Makoto would substitute himself with one of his clones hidden in the mist and restart the process over again. Had they aimed for his clones, another clone would just take its place. If water wasn't available in the vicinity however, he would just create some to use for his water clones. With the wide river running through Uzushiogakure he had more than enough water.

Iwa shinobi were cut down in two's and three's as Makoto decimated them; Kubikiribōchō stained with the blood of the slain, its edge never dulling as it bisected or severed body parts due to its natural effect which used the iron found in blood to repair itself.

The Iwa shinobi had been dealt with within less than ten seconds; most had been naive Genin and Chunin.

"Now the that the warm ups over..." Makoto appears behind Toma, ready to bisect him by the waist, "Let the battle begin!" He froze, his sword arm stopped mid-swing as a fuinjutsu seal activated from under him; effectively restraining him.

"I had noticed that you begin your attacks by attempting to bisect your enemies from behind." Toma said calmly as he whispered "Fire Release," changing the seals on his hands, feet, and torso into a symbol that resembled the Japanese Kanji for fire. He aimed a hand towards Makoto and fired a concentrated stream of fire. He watched as Makoto began to burn alive, before the familiar sound of steam replaced the sounds of burning. Subsequently, his heightened senses picked up movement to his left.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" Makoto became visible as he willed his chakra infused mist around him to part, temporarily making him visible. He had wanted to test Toma's reaction time with a clone, but to think that he would have already deduced his preferred opening attack. _As I had believed, this will be a glorious blood stained battle indeed!_ Makoto thought excitedly as adrenalin began pumping through his body. He rocketed towards Toma.

_Slash, cut, pierce, advance, attack with no hesitation, and live for the thrill of battle! that is my shinobi way!_ Swing after swing, Makoto relentlessly pursued Toma. Dodge after dodge he continued advancing, never wavering in the face of battle, but instead, relishing in it; for to battle is to live and to live is to battle. _A low kick followed by an over hand chop, mere child's play._ Makoto side stepped dodging Toma's attacks and the subsequent flow of fire and followed through with a horizontal swing, sending Toma flying as he guarded himself with his fuinjutsu enforced forearm protectors. Toma back flipped as he sailed through the air; landing on his feet, he skidded to a stop, yet Makoto was on him again.

Toma jumped over another low cleave and aimed a stream of fire at Makoto that missed as he had disappeared into the mist. He threw a whirling kick to the right as the flow of fire that originated from a seal at his foot reduced a water clone to hot steam. _This is getting me nowhere_ Toma thought. The real Makoto reappeared and continued to push him back with his sheer ferocity. _He'll swing left, followed by an overhead cleave, and then disappear into the mist._ He shot fire though the seals on his feet, shooting him back a meter as Makoto swung left, missed and followed through with an over head strike before he faded into the mist as he had anticipated.

"Wind Release." The seals on Toma's hands, feet, and torso disappeared again to be replaced by another set of seal. Air shot out of the seals on his hands, temporarily blowing the mist away. _There!_ Toma shot of towards the real Makoto, bypassing his clones as the wind that blasted out of the seals on his feet propelled him forward. Taken by surprise, Makoto couldn't react in time as Toma smashed into him, his wind encased fist impacting on the flat of Kubikiribōchō; punching a clean and precise fist shaped hole through it. Before Toma's fist could impact Makoto's body however, he substituted with a nearby clone, there by evading fatal damage.

"This is glorious!" Makoto said as he stabbed his blade into a dead Iwa shinobi, the blood splattering over it-repairing it. "Can you not feel the thrill?!" he disappeared in a body flicker, appeared in front of Toma, and using his left hand, grabbed onto his face and threw him away. "The joy of battle?!" Toma dispersed in a plume of smoke in the air, which revealed that what he had thrown had only been a clone.

"No." Toma said as he rose from the ground and round kicked Makoto by the waist, shooting him towards the direction of the river and out of the mist. "I don't." He shot off after him intent on ending things.

Makoto jumped back onto his feet as soon as he had stopped his momentum. Blood pooled near the back of his throat; the kick having ruptured a few choice organs, but not the important ones. He spat it out as he dodged a blow from Toma which had been aimed for his temple and retaliated by grabbing his arm and tossing him into the river. He followed soon after, a grin on his face as he noticed the change in battlefield; a water zone.

* * *

><p>He sat on Tsuki's lap in a room filled with other Uzumaki; some his age and others around Tsuki's. Most had concerned looks as they thought of the fighting going on outside and looked to Tsuki for direction. Tsuki had been asked by his father to watch over him and the occupants residing in the shelters; most were civilians and aspiring young shinobi.<p>

The ground shook for the ninth time in the past hour as he continued to listen in to the conversations around him. The majority of the conversations had been concerns about family members and their safety.

He began tugging on Tsuki's shirt as a sign to let him down in which she complied. Unsteadily walking around, he arrived at a glowing rune, or more correctly a fuinjutsu seal. He had learned of their proper name from conversations around him from recent days. Inspecting the seal, he did what he should have done a few days prior; he structurally grasped it.

Information flooded through his head as he began to sort it out. The complexity of the seal was outstanding. It had four layers, the first acted as a defense to a high degree of physical based attacks and the second provided high defense against chakra. The third and fourth were the most complicated though. Set to activate on the destruction of the first and second layer, the third layer had the function to produce chakra and to distribute it evenly onto the room and its occupants as the fourth layer would activate. The fourth layer transfers everything in contact with the chakra of the third layer to a different location. A loud bang attracts his attention towards a man who he recalled seeing before.

"Tsuki-san!" a battered Keisuke said as he came walking in through the front door of the room; the barrier having let him through. "The Konoha shinobi have been sighted to the north of the village!"

"I see." Tsuki said as she strode over to Keisuke and began administering healing jutsu. "Stay here and watch over Shirou-sama and the rest for me." she got up and readied her shinobi gear for use. "I will inform Hideki-sama to take down the traps laid out in the north."

* * *

><p>A unit of a hundred Konoha shinobi raced towards Uzushiogakure. A spiky silver haired man with a pony tail that flowed down to the middle of his back and bangs that hung over his forehead protector lead the unit at the forefront of the charge. He wore a standard Konohagakure Jounin uniform complete with a pair of gloves, green flak jacket, and the addition of a distinctive short white sleeve on his left arm which had red edges on it. His other arm had the Uzumaki swirl that all Konoha shinobi wear as a symbol of their friendship with Uzushiogakure.<p>

Aside from the leader and twenty others, the rest wore the standard ANBU masks and cloaks that covered their undergarments which consisted of a short, black, midriff jacket with red straps over the shoulders. As a side note, they all carried a tip-less tantō.

The terrain was a blur as they swiftly covered ground until Uzushio appeared in sight. They had been running nearly non-stop from Konoha, only resting when the day grew late. As a result, many had grown tired, yet still they persisted on since time was of the essence.

Rushing passed the last hundred meters towards the village a red haired woman appeared in front of them wearing the standard Uzumaki Chunin flak jacket.

The leader of the unit of Konoha-nin appeared by the woman.

"My name is Sakumo Hatake, and we have come to help."

* * *

><p><strong>Special thanks to souvikkundu0017 for providing Information<strong>

On a side note, my life has been getting busy lately, but I'll try my best to update.


	5. Uzushiogakure End

"It's a pleasure to meet you Hatake-san," was the first thing Tsubasa said.

War wizened eyes flickered towards her, eyes heavy with the burdens of the current Shinobi World War. Konoha had taken a risk by sending him; he who was needed in Amegakure, the Village Hidden in the Rain.

"And I you, but let us save our formal greetings for a different occasion," his voice was a calm, comforting chime, showing his experience of similar situations accumulated through time. "The enemy seems to have already entered through your door steps."

"I apologize for my lack of urgency. It's not every day that I would encounter Konoha's White Fang." Tsubasa said regretfully.

War wizened eyes closed as a hand was brought to drag across his face in a sign of exasperation.

"If I knew that gaining a reputation would lead to unnecessary situations such as this, I think I would have preferred working in the shadows."

Tsubasa turned around, embarrassed by her actions before she began guiding them towards the village.

"How long ago has it been since the enemy breached your walls?" Tsubasa stiffened as he had addressed her.

"Around two hours, Hatake-san," Tsubasa somehow managed to keep her voice from shaking from awe. "They have breached our southern wall and have gained around three kilometers of our ground."

The scrunching of his eyebrows was the only sign that he was troubled by the news.

"Has the enemy army remained a singular unit?"

Tsubasa inclined her head in a nod, not trusting her voice. Sakumo's gaze shifted off of Tsubasa and then settled in the direction of the approaching wall, the shinobi silently following behind him, doing the same. A fleck of blue light which he identified as chakra began to get larger and larger as they drew near.

"That's the great barrier opening in response to my presence." Tsubasa helpfully informed, "Well, not particularly my presence, but to anyone with Uzumaki DNA."

"If that is so, an Uzumaki's presence is required to pass the barrier," Sakumo's eyes flickered back towards Tsubasa. "Could there be a traitor amognst your ranks?"

"No way!" Tsubasa denied vehemently, snapping her head back to face Sakumo who was trailing behind her. "We Uzumaki would rather die than betray one another!" as if just realizing her outburst, she quickly turned her head back to hide her forming blush as Sakumo stared at her before chuckling.

"I see that the will of fire burns bright even here."

Tsubasa perked up, taking short glances at Sakumo before she turned to face him completely; curiosity taking the better of her.

"Will of fire?"

The corners of Sakumo's mouth twitched.

"It is what gives our shinobi the strength to continue fighting against all odds, building willpower, and strength of character through our belief that the entire village is a large family unit. And as a family, We fight for each other, We die for each other, and We will always trust one another." Sakumo said resolutely.

Tsubasa blinked once, then twice, before quirking up her upper right lip to signify her deep thoughts.

"I remember hearing of something similar from somewhere..." she scratched her head as Sakumo smiled in amusement. "Aha! The academy motto!" she raised her left hand as she raised her index finger; waving it back and forth in a scolding manor as an imitation of her old sensei. "A shinobi of Uzushiogakure must always put the lives of its people first. The buildings, districts and shops are not what make up a village, but the people who inhabit them. You must draw strength, not from rage accumulated through pain or sorrow, but from love. When you love, there is something you treasure or cherish, so much so, that you would do everything in your power to protect it. This is why, as shinobi of Uzushiogakure, we live to protect our precious people. Our loved ones from any and all harm through our love for one another driving us to further heights of strength...Is what my academy sensei said." she cheerily beamed at Sakumo while she crossed her arms, ignorant to the fact that she had been revealing her earlier blush. "Sounds similar right?"

"I'll have to agree on that."

Advancing swiftly toward the village in companionable silence, Sakumo stared at Tsubasa, watching as her short red hair blew back and forth; a foreign feeling coursing through his veins. He did not act upon it however, his shinobi training having much to do with it. Still though, he stared transfixed towards Tsubasa, taking in her features from his position behind her. The way her blue-bead earrings on both of her ears would show after each chakra enhanced jump, to her lithe form. He did not know when he had appeared to match her strides only that he did. From his new position, he could clearly make out her face which exposed her disbelief that he had chosen to run along side her. Her brown eyes dilated as she raised a delicate eyebrow in a questioning manor.

Subconsciously, Sakumo had slowly closed the distance between them, they now only separated by a half a meter; his gaze still locked onto hers. Tsubasa's thin cherry lips trembled from nervousness from her close proximity to Sakumo.

"H-Hatake-san?" her voice seemed to snap Sakumo out of his daze as he realized what he had been doing.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." they passed though the northern gate, entering the village.

Tsubasa momentarily froze, her sudden stop causing her to bump into a root shinobi behind her. Having realized why she had done so, Sakumo patted Tsubasa's back to console her as she stared at an impaled Uzumaki civilian who hadn't gotten to the shelters in time.

"Divide and conquer. It's a common tactic in invasions to destroy as much as possible." Sakumo stared at the mostly intact buildings. "Luckily though, it seems only a few have dispersed from the main group; judging by the damage done to the buildings. I estimate that around a hundred have broken off and created separate smaller units. It's imperative that we engage the main force before they all decide to expand towards the surrounding area's; causing more collateral damage and death."

The light faded from Tsubasa's eyes as her demeanor turned cold. Brushing off Sakumo's arm, she walked up to the impaled Uzumaki, set him free from his impalement, and sealed him in a scroll moments later.

Wordlessly she took off, guiding them towards where all the fighting was going on at the southern wall, her thoughts unreadable.

* * *

><p>"Ugh..."<p>

A hand broke out of the rubble of a broken building, blood running down the sides. If one were to look up, they would see a pathway created from broken buildings and upturned dirt and gravel that paved a way towards the river bank and continued on from the other side.

A second hand shot out, grabbing onto anything stable before pulling down in one swift motion. The rubble erupted in a plume of debris and dust as a figure emerged from the resulting smoke.

Battered, Emiko stood shakily on her feet, the sealing tag on her chest falling to the ground as it had expended all of the chakra stored inside of it to fuel the propulsion of the wind it had created.

_Fuck, that hurt. The bitch got me._ Surveying her surroundings she quickly deduced that she had been quite literally shot out of the battlefield which she remembered to be on the other side of the river she had flown past. Her hair was a mess, the senbon needle holding it in place having come off during her impromptu flight.

Brown-wild unruly locks swayed to the tempo of the wind as she walked towards her blade which protruded from a partially destroyed building in front of her. Removing it, she sat down near the base of the destroyed building, hiding her from sight as she suppressed her chakra to remain undetected.

_My left shoulders dislocated, I have to fix it._ She looked around the room for a stable wall. Finding one, she walked up to it and roughly slammed her shoulder onto it at a slant such that the angle in which she hits it would reset the dislocated joint. A muffled scream followed by a popping sound which indicated the bone resetting resulted in her cursing up a storm directed towards the Uzumaki woman; who was the root of her pain.

Calming down, she re-positioned herself back to the base of the building, keeping out of sight.

_With me gone, Gari is temporarily in charge. Knowing him, he wouldn't lose to that damn Uzumaki, meaning that I should carry out the mission._ Reassured of herself she ate a blood pill, replenishing her lost blood supply as the increase in blood pumped adrenaline through her veins faster; numbing the pain in her left shoulder while at the same time heightening her body's current capabilities.

The ground trembled as a rock hanging precariously on a ledge of a destroyed building fell and landed on the ground adjacent to her peripheral view. No sooner than it had hit the ground, that an Iwa shinobi appeared and continued to body flicker off, sending earth based ninjutsu attacks towards the buildings that remained standing, destroying them. He wasn't the only one however as more had joined him, their combined efforts, the reason as to why the ground had been shaking.

Luck was on her side today.

She body flickered out of the building and appeared in front of the small group. Gazing at them she clicked her tongue to the top of her mouth in irritation. They were Chunin and Genin level shinobi, but they were all she had to work with.

They numbered around forty and all were far from injured, meaning that they were the cowards of the army who chose to stray from the main force to prolong their lives. They did have their uses though, particularly if they managed to divert the enemy's attention from the main force. If they were lucky, the enemy would even send out their own unit of shinobi to deal with them, in turn weakening themselves.

But then again, it almost never happened in that way. Most often they would get killed off by the enemy army before they could disperse, but that is only the case if the enemy has the necessary man power to kill them first. Needless to say, the Uzu-shinobi, were lacking in number, but they had quality instead.

A woman wearing the brown Iwagakure flak jacket, with a one sleeved red undershirt approached Emiko, her posture tense from nervousness.

"W-What are your orders?"

Emiko turned around without acknowledging her.

"Follow my lead." she shot off, the Iwa shinobi followed behind her without question. Cowards though they were, but they were trained Iwa shinobi, meaning they would not disobey an order.

Shops, buildings, streets, and established monuments were destroyed. Some pelted by droves of sharpened earthen rock, others demolished into unrecognizable rubbish. The Uzumaki swirl engraved on the buildings and lavish tapestries that hung proudly from the tip of the ruined Uzumaki spire, a monument built in dedication to the whirlpools of Uzu were no more. One such tapestry floated limply to the ground and landed face up, only to be stepped on by an Iwa shinobi.

Throughout all the havoc, Emiko was dissatisfied. Not once did she hear the sounds of tortured screams that normally followed such annihilation. The area was desolate, not a single Uzumaki in sight.

Perhaps luck had favored her at that moment in time as a ruined flyer of sorts had crashed onto her face. Irritated she plucked it off and proceeded to tear it up, but stopped mid-way as a sentence had caught her attention.

'_Evacuate towards the shelters near the Clan Heads Tower, north of here._'

Emiko smiled before she proceeded to tear up the paper, a new destination in mind.

"Save your chakra! We're heading north!"

They traveled in relative silence, limiting the destruction of their surrounding to a minimum to conserve their chakra which Emiko predicted would be needed.

Jumping over a building, Emiko flipped over, planted her feet on the wall, and shot off towards another building, landing on its roof before stopping.

In front of her was a ginormous tower that spanned several stories up with painted blue walls. At the center, there stood emblazoned in fiery red glory was the symbol of Uzushiogakure's pride; their swirl, along with the portraits of their previous Clan Heads encircled around it.

The scene was so breath taking that it would be a true shame 'not' to raze it to the ground. The notion was dissolved however when they discovered that the barriers around it couldn't be penetrated, even when Emiko had decided to approach it to see if it had the same effect as the outside barrier.

The barrier was different from the great barrier in that the seals activated by Hideki around it would not let anything in. Period.

Some may wonder why the Uzumaki did not take shelter there instead, but the answer to that question was simple. Inside the tower, seals spewed out lethal toxic chemicals to ensure that even if its outside barriers were to fall, its secrets would still be kept safe from intruders.

Giving up, Emiko began peering at nearby buildings. _If I were to hide a shelter, where would it be?_

"Captain, there is an incoming chakra signature." said the woman she had refused to acknowledge previously. Apparently, she was a sensory-nin.

Grudgingly she accepted her usefulness, she ordered for them to suppress their chakra and hide amongst the surroundings; she doing the same.

An Uzumaki appeared wearing the Uzu-nin flak jacket, her red hair swept to one side as she made her way passed the surrounding buildings and entered a rather large common looking complex.

Creeping out of the shadows, Emiko and her unit of shinobi surrounded the complex.

Emiko motioned to her right, informing the shinobi opposite of her to move in. Nodding towards her, they shot off towards the entrance, kunai in hand. Reaching the front door, one of them gripped the door knob ready to turn it open as the others aimed their kunai in preparation. The shinobi holding the door knob raised a hand with three fingers up, counting down from three. As the last finger dropped, the shinobi twisted the knob and pulled with all his strength.

The door had not so much as rattled, though the door knob did turn; giving the impression that the shinobi who turned it had just been playing which aggravated the other shinobi. Aggravation dissipated however, when the shinobi attempted to do so again, this time he planted a foot next to the door as leverage, but failed for a second time.

Having realized that his efforts were unwarranted, he decided to instead ram his shoulder onto the door. That, be that as it may had only caused him unnecessary pain as the door stood tall. Giving up, they decided to shower the house with ninjutsu attacks, which also proved less than effective.

They returned to Emiko in shame, defeated by a door that would not budge and a house that is literally indestructible. She sighed because of their incompetence and decided to do so herself. Having observed the units failure in ninjutsu, she decided to try her luck with the door. The red lock of hair in her shinobi pouch hummed a faint blue before fading.

Turning the knob, it creaked open revealing a room full of Uzumaki children, the elderly, and civilians.

Emiko was not the first to take action. She had lost to the Uzu-shinobi that had been sighted earlier and was subsequently forced to dodge a barrage of shurikan by jumping away from the door. Still though, the fact of the matter was that the door was now wide open.

The Iwa-nin charged in as the Uzumaki inside clustered towards the far wall.

The Uzu-nin they had spotted earlier had been joined by another Uzu-nin with short-red spiky hair, though he was already injured. He had a visible jaw line, along with a narrow chin that somehow seemed to enhance his blue eyes. Judging from their faces, they did not expect for them to have broken into the shelter.

Rushing back into the fray, Emiko attacked the two Uzu-nin; blade held in reverse grip as she jumped, twirled, gained momentum and chopped down. Her blade met resistance in the form of a steel kunai held by the male of the two as the other brought out a seal that shot out a spire of water.

Disengaging the male of the two, Emiko jumped back in time to dodge the incoming projectile that crashed onto the complex's interior and broke through; its protection not accountable for the inside.

Emiko's attack let loose the leashes on the other Iwa-nin to begin their own attacks, acting as a catalyst to what would soon be an open massacre; at least it was supposed to be.

Children cried as their parents pushed them back towards the rear of the clustered group they had created with the elderly and other civilians.

The elderly occupied the middle space, followed by the civilians in front. The only able shinobi able to protect them were already occupied as the remaining Iwa-nin charged at them.

Unexpectedly, the Iwa-nin stopped, their gazes locked onto the space above the them.

Everyone froze, staring up at the spectacle that had stopped the proceedings of the charging Iwa-nin. There, floating in the air unimpeded by anything was a single sword.

* * *

><p>The waters raged as two titans in the bodies of men contended against each other. One controlled the very element that they stood upon, while the other revealed mastery of the five elements; shooting lightning, fire, wind, and water from his limbs, his earth element not suited for the environment.<p>

One held a sword, the other held paper. One lived for battle while the other fought for his people. The fight, if one could call it that, was not only a battle against an enemy shinobi, but a battle between nindo's, a shinobi's way of life.

Ripples constantly formed on the surface of the water, some big, others small.

On the river bank opposite to them was absolute mayhem. The battle hardened Uzumaki had arrived to reinforce the weakened Uzu-nin that were steadily getting pushed back.

The battlefield turned dark as clouds had blocked out the sun while winds from the north blew through the area, making the blood stained grass and devastated shrubbery of the hill side sway back and forth.

With the arrival of reinforcements, the Uzumaki grouped together, forming a singular unit that effectively put a hold to the Kiri and Iwa-nin's advance. Containment seals were thrown and formed in the air, absorbing all manner of attack, be they physical, or chakra related that came overhead.

On another note, chakra draining seals attached to the but-ends of kunai were thrown in droves in random directions. Upon landing, black characters spread through the ground in circular patterns, stopping with a diameter of around fifty meters before glowing florescent blue. Like a vacuum, chakra was drawn in from anything within the diameter of the circle towards the seal, the center as the focal point. Enemy shinobi caught within, watched helplessly as their chakra was visibly forced out of them, their faces cemented in abject horror as they passed on to the next life; the seal draining all dredges of their chakra, the vital essence needed to live.

The sheer number of the enemy shinobi however had created a stalemate.

On one side stood proudly the Uzumaki; though few in number their unorthodox attacks had done well to their cause. On the other side stood cautiously were the Iwa and Kiri shinobi army, their killer intent evident in their eyes as they remained vigilant for anymore attacks.

This face off didn't last however, as the first few fool hardy shinobi from both sides took off, meeting at the center where they clashed with adrenaline enhanced vigor. Blows were traded, wounds were created or re-opened, and death loomed ominously in the air; for what is a war without death?

_'With death comes pain. With pain comes hatred.'_

Battle cries reverberated through the air as enemy and ally alike died in last ditch efforts to kill the other off, their courage and self-sacrifice lighting a fire within the eyes of those presently fighting. Swiftly, both sides converged on each other, forgetting all manors of tactics, relying instead on their determination, vengeance, and pride to fuel their bodies with the strength necessary to go on.

Attacks were thrown everywhere, either proving fatal or non-fatal, the non-fatally wounded Uzumaki safe in their barriers, yet the same could not be said about the enemy's wounded.

For every dead Uzumaki, there were at least ten Iwa or Kiri shinobi who fell by their hands.

Droplets of rain began falling from the sky, the cold winds further enhanced by the out-pour of the rain bit into the backs of all who were fighting.

Jagged spires of earth rose from the ground, just barely missing an Uzumaki who had maneuvered out of the way. In response, blank scrolls were thrown outwards and unraveled, coming in contact with numerous enemy shinobi.

Contact was all that was needed to initiate the "Scroll Binding Technique," the unwrapped scroll binding enemy shinobi into thick white cocoons before a death seal was placed onto them.

Their attack proving insufficient, the enemy shinobi backed off and regrouped, vying to use tactics to prevail against their foes.

The Uzumaki taking this as a chance, gathered their wounded and also regrouped.

A war cry from the Iwa and Kiri shionbi's flank drew the attention of the Uzumaki towards Tsubasa who had charged headlong into the group.

Tsubasa's features turned feral as seals on her earrings activated, granting her the strength, speed, and power of a wolf summon. Her hair grew out into a red mane that flowed past her waist and her hands reshaped into jagged wolf like claws while her canines grew out. Everything else remained the same.

Reminiscent of a lone wolf, she charged in, bludgeoning her first foe with a clean swipe to the temple, before moving on to the next. Panicked attacks were thrown in her direction, but her speed enabled her to dodge passed them and continue on.

Her advance didn't last forever however, as the Iwa and Kiri shinobi recovered enough from the surprise attack to better organize themselves.

A pair of hands, shot up from the ground, grabbed Tsubasa by the ankles and pulled her down. In an attempt to prevent herself from being fully submerged under the earth, she struck down with a fist, striking directly under her.

To escape from damage, the Iwa shinobi underneath her retreated, leaving her thigh level in the ground.

Upon seeing Tsubasa charge in from the enemy's flank, the Uzumaki began their own attacks in hopes of providing aid to her from what they deemed was a suicidal attack. Their efforts be that as it may, proved useless as there were too many enemy shinobi between them and Tsubasa.

Tsubasa struggled to get herself free in time as she witnessed an Iwa and Kiri shinobi speeding through hand seals in preparation for a ninjutsu. Breaking one leg free, she stared up to face a water bullet and earth spike zooming there way towards her; she would not make it in time.

A loud bang originated from Tsubasa's location, lifting up dust from the ground which formed into a cloud that obscured vision. As the dust settled, multiple silhouettes could be vaguely seen standing within.

A strong updraft created by the weather blew the remaining dust cloud away to reveal Sakumo Hatake carrying Tsubasa bridal style and a cohort of ninety-nine Konoha shinobi ready for battle.

* * *

><p>Despite the fact that Gari's opponent matched him in nearly every way possible, he still maintained his air of confidence. Blows that would kill or cripple lesser men were exchanged and dodged between him and what he had dubbed as his "double."<p>

For every missed punch or kick, there was an explosion that soon followed; creating craters on the ground and the surroundings.

Kunai and shurikan littered the ground in which they fought on, some blunted from previous use, others still lethally sharp.

They clashed again and again, dodging all blows aimed at them; for the one to land the first blow would be the victor of the bout due to the devastating destructive capabilities of the Explosion Release.

The Explosion Release was a blood line that let users use explosive chakra in combat which allowed them to cause explosions in objects they come in contact with. Fighting a user of this blood line would entail winning without getting struck once, a harrowing feat in and out of itself.

Knocking his opponent to the ground by destroying a segment of earth in which he had predicted that his opponent would step on, Gari rushed in for a finishing blow. As he neared his downed opponent, he felt a sensation in his gut that he would normally associate with danger. His opponent righted himself and revealed a hand full of shurikan and kunai obtained from the ground.

Quickly, his opponent sent them propelling towards him through calculated small explosions from his hand, sending them flying at insane untraceable speeds.

On instinct, Gari body flickered to the right, just barely dodging the assault launched towards his person that dug itself into a building and out the other side.

Re-assessing his opponent, Gari took a glance at the woman his "double" was defending. She was crouched on the ground, a hand pressed against the earlier wound that he had inflicted while her other hand was sorting though her shinobi pouch. She produced a roll of bandages and promptly began wrapping them over her wound, wincing every so often.

A kunai streaked through the air towards the woman as a few Iwa-nin appeared around them, the Kiri-nin elsewhere.

His "double" made to move to defend the woman, but before it could, he attacked; sending his "double" skidding across the ground with a well timed punch that blew a hole through its chest; victory was his.

The woman swore as she jolted herself to the left to avoid the incoming kunai. Landing on her side, blood spilled from her wound turning the white bandages she had just applied to herself vermilion. Jumping to her feet, she dodged a spike of earth that had shot up from the ground directly beside her.

Taking action, she grabbed the large scroll attached to her back and unraveled it in one nimble motion. Black characters and seals were written in tandem to each other, stretching from start to finish in an impressive display of calligraphy. The outer most seal activated, followed consecutively by the rest as they all lit up, changing the characters written on the scroll from black to blue.

A field of crimson energy formed around her and rapidly expanded outwards. The kunai and shurikan left lying on the ground disintegrated as they made contact with the field, revealing the lethality of the attack to those present.

They tried to flee, for that was certain, but it was too late as the field had expanded too quickly and wiped them all out to the atomic level.

Nothing remained in the area; the ground was bare and free of any vegetation, weaponry, or bodies. The fact that there were no other Uzumaki in the area had been the deciding factor as to why the woman had unleashed such a devastating attack.

Sighing in relief, the women set the large scroll down on the devastated ground as it had already served its purpose and body flickered off to rejoin the fight after eating a blood pill.

Moments after the woman left the area, Gari sprouted from the ground. Having realized that escape was impossible above ground, he had tunneled several meters into the ground using the "Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu," just barely avoiding the after life.

Getting his bearings straight, he traveled in the direction of the main force of Iwa shinobi to guide them, believing Emiko to be fully capable on her own.

On arrival however, he suppressed his chakra and sunk under the ground before travelling back in the direction from whence he came due to the fact that Konoha's White Fang was on the battle field; he knew that he stood no chance. Popping back out of the ground nearly a full kilometer away, he strode off.

_The mission has failed. I need to inform Emiko to retreat as the rest have already started to do so._ Reaching the area that he had watched Emiko get blasted away from, he followed the path of destroyed buildings and upturned gravel in which she had created.

* * *

><p>Makoto watched Toma fighting against a water clone from his position hidden underneath the river. The battle had proved better than he had expected.<p>

He had believed that since he was fighting on water he would have had the advantage, but that assumption had been quickly shot down in the form of a giant wave that Toma had willed to envelope him; removing him from sight and sending him beneath the surface of the water.

A devastating attack it was, but a naive one nonetheless. Never let an enemy shinobi out of sight, you never know what they would do. As a matter of fact, he had taken the opportunity to replace himself with a water clone as he remained submerged under the water.

Creating another water clone beside him as insurance, Makoto maneuvered himself around Toma and waited for an opening.

Toma dragged a hand across the water as he made a beeline towards what he assumed to be Makoto, before swiping his hand in an upward arc. The water rose up in accordance to his motion, sending a disc of water at the clone's location.

The clone moved left, and then immediately to the right as it noticed a second water disc hidden behind the shadow of the first. The water rippled as the clone hastily advanced in on Toma, avoiding the spurts of water that shot out at him in various shapes and forms, but most predominantly, massive fists.

Forced to sidestep out of the way as the clone's blade descended towards him, Toma returned fire with a back hand strike that was easily blocked and countered with a punch to the gut.

He doubled over, a hand clutched over his stomach. The blow was strong, stronger than the blows he would occasionally receive from Shizuka when she had deemed him to be doing something stupid, or perhaps it was due to the fact that he had not participated in missions for the last five years; devoting most of his time to the improvement of fuinjutsu. Still though, the fact of the matter was that he had to move, he could not afford to stay idle for too long; not with this kind of an opponent.

Wheezing out a labored breath, he blocked the secondary punch aimed at his temple with a cross guard. The impact sent an acute jolt of burning agony into his pain receptors in his brain and left him rearing.

Not one to miss an opportunity the clone continued his assault, pressing his advantage through quickly repeated jabs, not giving Toma enough time to recover. It was when the clone had decided to use his sword that Toma was able to body flicker away, the swords swing to slow compared to the jabs.

Having had enough of remaining on the defensive, Toma struck first by striking the water's surface with a raised leg, creating massive ripples that began to swirl in a circular pattern, before speeding up.

He had produced a whirlpool, the water's current forcing him and the clone to twirl around each other as they made eye contact. As they spun faster and faster, they got closer and closer to the center of the whirlpool.

The clone charged in blade over head, as Toma took out a single seal, threw it on the surface of the water, and watched it continue to multiply into hundreds of other copies before firing a blast of fire at the clone's direction. The clone dodged and landed back on the whirlpool which he now noticed to be filled with sealing tags spread around by the current.

The clone's eyes widened before a massive explosion echoed out through the hill side. Needless to say, the clone was no more, blasted back into its original state of water. Toma however, did not know that and assumed that Makoto was simply dead.

Due to protecting himself with a hastily placed barrier, Toma got off lightly with only a few injuries. Looking around, he scanned the battle field and its occupants for Shizuka and the rest of the Uzumaki, before a sudden pain emanated from his gut.

Blood dripped onto the surface of the water in surplus, tainting the pristine water in crimson from the tip of Kubikiribōchō plunged through Toma's stomach. Due to the blades massive size, the stab was akin to a deep gauge. Blood rushed up from his insides before getting expelled through his mouth.

"That was an effective move you pulled there, nearly got me too and I was under water." Makoto ripped the blade out of Toma from his side, nearly bisecting him from his waist. "Now if only it were actually me and not a clone you had used it on."

Toma fell to the surface of the water, as a barrier seal erected itself around him. Toma struggled as he brought a hand towards his shinobi pouch and produced the scroll that contained Lifesaver.

"Perhaps...I may still be able too." Toma unsealed Lifesaver and stabbed himself with it as Makoto backed away from the barrier knowing that trying to destroy it would be futile; it was his mistake not to behead Toma when he had the chance instead of taking the time to watch him suffer.

Re-sealing Lifesaver, Toma exited the barrier; fully knowing of its one-time use.

"Normally I would complain about such dishonor in a life or death battle," Makoto said as Toma stood tall, wounds completely healed, but the same could not be said about his chakra reserves; he had used a great deal of it throughout Uzushiogakure's ordeal. "But then again this gives me an opportunity to truly go all out and test my mettle against a worthy foe!"

Makoto rushed through a large number of hand seal at speeds so fast that only a blur could be seen, ending on the Bird seal. "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!" The water rose and gushed upwards to stretch dozens of meters high, gaining massive height from the river water that they stood upon. Like a tsunami, it swelled and surged towards Toma, fully enveloping him in its sheer ferocity.

Toma was swept towards the river bank, tossing and turning beneath the weight of the water that weighed a kilogram per liter; his natural durability keeping him from getting completely crushed.

Makoto watched as Toma washed up over the river bank and into a clump of tall grass that stopped him, before he rushed in for the kill; his own chakra reserves pretty damn low from his jutsu.

Toma stood up on shaky legs as he felt more than a few ribs broken as well as internal injuries, a few probably caused by said broken bones. Disorientated, he took a moment to steady himself, his vision still slightly clouded. He convulsed, falling to his knees as he coughed out water that had entered into his body through his nose and mouth.

"Toma! MOVE!" Alarmed, Toma let his body collapse onto the ground, the sword meant to decapitate him swinging just over his head. A damning pressure was forcefully applied to his back as he felt another rib snap, puncturing his left lung. The taste of iron was prevalent in his mouth as more and more blood pooled into it, vying for an exit. He did not release it however until he was violently kicked on his side, the momentum turning him face up to stare into the predatory eyes of Makoto.

"Let him go!" Makoto looked up toward Shizuka, who had just arrived from her own battle and laughed.

"To the winner go the spoils, as well as the right to decide who lives and who dies!" Makoto raised Kubikiribōchō into the air before stabbing downwards towards Toma who stared back unflinchingly.

A hidden seal engraved on Toma's chest activated, sending a volley of fire at point-blank range at Makoto who suffered minor burns. Still though, it had done its job as Kubikiribōchō had stabbed into the ground beside him.

Upon witnessing a moment of weakness, Shizuka jumped in, shooting an earth ball at Makoto through a seal held in her right hand.

Reacting quickly, Makoto defended by using Kubikiribōchō to take the brunt of the damage as he was sent skidding back due to the earth ball's momentum. Kubikiribōchō's tip chipped off sending a small fragment towards the ground, but that was all the damage it took; its durability quite high.

"How dare you! How dare you interfere!" Makoto raged at Shizuka who had taken Toma and distanced herself from him.

"Captain! Bad news, Konoha has arrived and they've sent the White Fang! I'm the only one left! We can't win we c-" Makoto stabbed Kubikiribōchō into the panicking Kiri-nin, shutting him up as the blood spilled repaired Kubikiribōchō's chipped tip. His gaze turned murderous as he continued to stare across at Shizuka holding onto Toma.

"Woman, you have incited my wrath, yet it seems that fortune is on your side today. I will be taking my leave, but before I go..." the water clone that he had created previously shot up from the rivers surface and landed next to him. "A little parting gift if you will, to remember me by."

Makoto shot off into the river, travelling downstream and exiting Uzushiogakure through the river; the great barrier not stopping him since it only functioned from the outside.

The water clone charged, one hand holding a kunai while the other hand held a copy of Kubikiribōchō. Shizuka laid Toma onto the ground before intercepting the water clone. The ensuing battle had been short as the water clone had been made using only a dredge of Makoto's chakra, not like the other clone which was made with a larger chakra capacity.

Defeating the water clone, Shizuka rushed back to Toma's side where she un-sealed Lifesaver and used it to heal Toma. As soon as they were both ready, they left in the direction that the panicking Kiri-nin had come from.

* * *

><p>With the arrival of Sakumo Hatake, the battle fell heavily in the Uzumaki's favour. Moral rose and with it more daring attacks that bordered on the insane. Individual Uzumaki took on groups of nearly twenty shinobi at the same time.<p>

Just as moral rose for the Uzumaki, the opposite can be said about the enemy shinobi who had begun to panic by just merely glancing at Sakumo, his reputation preceding him. They were systematically mowed down in a pincer attack. Panicked groups of individuals broke from formation and were subsequently killed, weakening the previously stable formation and reducing their numbers.

A red blur shot its way throughout the battle field, killing enemy shinobi in a vengeful fashion while a white blur killed alongside it. The red blur was mainly on the offensive and the white blur had the job of attacking while at the same time defending the red blurs back.

As the red blur grew tired from fatigue they slowed down, revealing the forms of Tsubasa with her transformation, and Sakumo with his White Light Chakra Sabre emitting white chakra as it lived up to its namesake.

Sakumo swatted a kunai away with his tantō while at the same time redirecting it towards a Kiri-nin who was about to launch a handful of shurikan at him as he surveyed the battle field. He had killed a fair number of enemy shinobi, but their numbers were still large.

"Can you continue?" he asked Tsubasa as she panted for breath.

"Of course." Tsubasa regained her bearings and together they jumped back into the fray.

The enemy shinobi fell in droves, some too petrified by Sakumo's presence to move; others brave enough to fight head on, yet still they all ended up dying. Tsubasa sent a Kiri-nin flying with a well timed blow to the abdominal as Sakumo cut through an Iwa-nins kunai like butter and finished him off with a clean slash to the throat.

The Root shinobi attacked with lethal force, not caring if their bodies sustained fatal injuries or not; all for the sake of the mission.

Within under an hour, the enemy shinobi, disorganized and panicked had been reduced to a mere hundred that were now singularly focused on retreat. This is what Toma and Shizuka arrived to, the battle's conclusion.

The last few hundred enemy shinobi were easily dealt with aside from a few who escaped.

Sakumo appeared in front of them, followed by Tsubasa who had calmed down from her cold rage, but her face revealed her distress of the death of her comrades, her family.

"The enemy has been taken care of Toma-sama, but many have..." Tsubasa trailed off, staring at a dead Uzumaki.

"You don't have to continue, I know." Toma walked up to a dead Uzu-nin and closed the dead Uzu-nin's eyelids as they had remained open. Sealing him in a scroll, Toma got up and regarded his fellow Uzumaki. "Gather the injured and bring them to me." He looked toward Sakumo, "Your injured are welcome as well."

The injured were gathered in hordes, there were many to heal, and some needed to be healed more than others due to blood loss and fatal injuries. Sakumo clenched his fists as he believed that not all could be saved and that he would yet again witness the tragedies of war.

He stared fascinated however, as he watched all manors of injuries being healed by a single blade. Whether it was a lost limb, or ruptured vital organs, all were healed. Toma then moved onto all the other less injured Uzumaki and Konoha shinobi.

"If I may inquire Uzumaki-san, but what is that blade?"

Taking a moment to contemplate his action Toma decided that he could afford some trust to the Uzumaki's allied village.

"This blade is named Lifesaver, after it single handily saved my life from the brink of death. We are not sure of its full capabilities, but we do know that it heals any kind of injury. It has not been tested on disease yet however, but I believe that there is a remarkably high chance of it working."

Sakumo raised a brow to the implication of such a blade. Such a blade could turn the favor of a battlefield by instantly healing all that have been injured. He thought of a certain blond haired kunoichi back in Konoha who would definitely have a field day with this discovery.

"Where did you attain such a remarkable blade?" Sakumo asked insistently, perhaps Konoha could obtain a similar blade.

"Uzumaki Clan secret," Toma took no time to decide on his decision.

Sakumo nodded. A clan's secret is clan's secret.

"You are welcome to stay for a few days Hatake-san; I can tell that you and your shinobi are fatigued from your long journey here."

Sakumo looked towards the unit he was leading and indeed they did seem tired.

"I'll take you up on your offer Uzumaki-san." Sakumo said as he sheathed his chakra sabre.

"Housing will be prepared for you, but first we must make sure that there are no more threats in Uzushiogakure."

Sakumo nodded as a loud bang originated from the direction of the main village of Uzushio.

The Uzumaki's eyes widened in worry, the bang had come from the direction of the main shelters. If the enemy shinobi had somehow passed through the great barrier, it wouldn't be too far fetched for them to bypass the barrier around the shelter.

As one they shot off toward the shelter, worry evident in the their eyes, but none more so than Shizuka and Toma who were already way ahead of the group.

On arrival, Toma and Shizuka stood still, staring at a destroyed visibly empty shelter, with bodies of Iwa shinobi scattered around, some impaled by swords, halberd, and lances, others killed by other means. Panicked, they rushed into the building and discovered that the transfer seal had been activated, which means...

"They're near our home!" Shizuka yelled.

* * *

><p>Tsuki watched from her position beside Keisuke as one sword hovered above the huddled crowd. From one, it turned into ten, from ten into fifty, and from fifty into a hundred, all within the space above the clustered group that just barely had enough room to fit them all. The blade's were mundane, no different from the steel blades that the samurai forge in the Land of Iron.<p>

"What is this?" Emiko said from her side, watching as the first barrage of swords rained down in front of the Iwa-nin in warning. Intimidated, a few Iwa-nin began to back off.

"What are you idiots doing, hurry up and just break out of this genjutsu already!" Emiko said before she raised a hand into a ram seal and yelled "Kai" flooding her chakra system with a huge inflow of chakra; followed swiftly by everyone else.

A kunai clattered to the floor and rolled a small distance away as an Iwa-nin dropped it.

"I-Its not a g-genjutsu!" said an Iwa-nin as he took a step back, but held his ground.

"Captain. There is a high chakra level inside that large group, it is probably the cause of all this." said the sensory Iwa-nin.

On hearing the Iwa-nins words, the Uzumaki turned to face themselves, wanting to know who their savior was. As all heads turned however, one tiny head remained staring forward impassively. One tiny head with a bush of red hair and a pair of strong amber eyes.

"Shirou-sama?" Tsubasa said in disbelief.

Hushed whispers made their way through the crowd before the Uzumaki chose to use their bodies to protect the Clan Head's son; knowing that even if Shirou had the power to protect them, he did not have the mobility needed to protect himself.

"Go!" Emiko ordered. "You have your target!"

The Iwa-nin though hesitant at first, continued on nonetheless despite their gut feelings to flee.

* * *

><p>He hated death, no that was inaccurate; it was not death that he hated for it will inevitably come for all. What he hated was taking away life, for life no matter how large or small can ever be replaced. It was for this reason that he had fired off only a warning shot and for the most part, it seemed to have worked, that is, until their superior had ordered them on.<p>

They charged as he attempted to think of a way to save everyone, yet nothing came to mind. He would not tolerate letting a single man, woman, or child, die to protect him, it was he who should die to protect them. Them who chose to protect him even at the cost of their own well beings. Them who did not abandon him as others had done before, it was the least he could do; although he probably would have done so anyway, regardless if they had chosen to protect him or not.

With a clenched fist and heart, Shirou unwillingly sent Armageddon on the enemy shinobi.

Serrated steel edges stabbed, pierced, and eviscerated the Iwa-nin. Some died near instantly, the swords launched at tremendous speeds as others suffered from disembodiment or non-fatal wounds.

Not all were damaged however, as a few had chosen to cover themselves in rock that was thick enough to impede and stop the momentum of the blades.

Wanting to end things quickly, he traced a variety of different un-named weaponry, from lances, halberds, and battle axes, to the average mundane blades and daggers; the price of prana not as costly as it had been in his previous world now that he had a secondary power source.

He swiftly ended the suffering of his enemies, killing them before they could raise their earthen shields. He had defeated them all, not letting a single one of them near the crowd protecting him, yet he felt an extreme hollowness in doing so. There were times in his previous life where he has killed before, but only if it was absolutely necessary. This, this was not necessary; they had done no wrong, as they had only been following orders. It left a bitter taste in his mouth as he compared the outcome of his attack and realized just how similar he must have looked to Gilgamesh; despite the fact that he was a toddler.

Cheers rose from the throats of the Uzumaki, but were promptly shut up as a man entered into the room from the door and jumped into the fight between Tsuki, Keisuke, and the woman who he heard order the attack.

"Emiko. The mission has failed." The man said.

The woman, Emiko, looked at the man skeptically as she backed away from Tsubasa and Keisuke.

"Explain."

"Konoha, has arrived with its White Fang and a unit of what I estimate to be Jounin, or Elite Jounin level shinobi. By the time I had arrived, our forces had already begun dwindling."

Emiko looked towards the occupants of the room, her gaze tensing their bodies in preparation for anything. Perchance she caught his gaze and held it for a brief moment before it was blocked by a man in front of him.

She began walking towards him as Tsuki and Keisuke body flickered in front of her to defend him and the people around him. Swords, lances, spears, and halberds, changed there trajectory to lock on to her.

Unexpectedly, she stopped in front of the body of the sensory Iwa-nin; observing the long sword that had struck and pierced her heart before grabbing the blade for closer inspection. Upon finishing, she tossed the blade to the man who stared curiously at her.

"That blade, what do you think of it?"

The man looked at the blade before snapping it in half.

"Ordinary."

"Exactly, and yet weaponry such as the long sword you had just snapped has decimated my unit of shinobi."

The man looked towards the weaponry filling the air and the crowd below it. "And I suppose it has something to do with that group over there."

Tsuki gripped her kunai firmly, not liking where the conversation was going; Keisuke beside her of the same mind. They did not move however, simply because they did not want to provide the enemy with an opening to their people who could not fight for themselves, well more accurately against trained shinobi.

"Spot on as usual Gari. There is child in there that I believe has developed a new bloodline, and based on the results, a deadly on at that."

Emiko body flickered next to Gari.

"And I suppose that it would be best to eliminate a potential problem, correct?" Gari said as he eyed the group.

"Precisely, but based on your Intel, we don't have a lot of time to end things and make our escape." Emiko unsheathed her sword as Gari entered a taijutsu stance. "Let's end things quickly."

Like bullets, they zoomed towards him as he in turn began unleashing hell with no restrictions simply because he knew that half-assed attempts would do no good.

The walls and floors around them became littered with weaponry that began destroying the shelter from the inside out. A section of a wall had completely fallen over revealing the outdoors as a blade pierced the outer rimming of the seal that maintained the barrier around the complex; destroying the first and second layer, and subsequently activating the third.

He watched as Emiko and Gari continued to manoeuvre passed his assault before they engaged Tsuki and Keisuke in battle.

Keisuke moved in front of Tsuki and activated a chakra restriction seal that prevented the use of chakra within a ten meter radius. It was useless however, since Gari and Emiko had only feigned battle to bypass them in which they did.

"Earth Style:Earth Flow Wave!" The wooden planking tore as chunks and pieces of grime and rock formed together into a large wave in which Emiko rode on. Off to the side, Gari jumped to the right to dodge a kunai that Tsubasa had thrown while Keisuke deactivated his chakra restriction seal.

Emiko jumped off of her created wave just as she deflected an oncoming halberd and a blade that nearly impaled her.

"Earth Style:Violent Heavenly Earth Needle!" The earth wave reshaped itself into a large needle that shrugged off the blades in the air as it projected itself towards him.

The men and women in front of him cowered under the incoming threat, yet they had nothing to worry about as he had begun to trace Rho Aias: The Seven Wings That Cover the Fiery Heavens. It was the shield wielded by Aias that stopped the javelin of the great hero Hector which had never before been blocked in the Trojan War.

Seven reddish petals formed in the air in the shape of an iridescent flower attributed to a rocket larkspur flower said to have bloomed from Aias's blood as he died. Seven petals, each with the durability of a fortress wall, not aformentioned however, was the fact that it had been foretold to be an absolute defence against any thrown weapon. It just so happened that the earth needle counted as a thrown weapon.

Rho Aias's use comes with a price however, not only do you take damage in accordance to the breaking of a petal, but the energy cost is also three times more costly than if he had traced a sword. Luckily, he no longer just had prana to fuel his projections.

The earth needle made contact, but failed to damage even the first petal as a small shock wave rattled the complex's interior structure which resulted from the impact. A second later, it fell to the ground and broke up to its base components of rock and grime.

"What?!" Emiko momentarily stood stupefied, before she was brought back to reality as a sword nicked her across the face, drawing blood.

_If unnamed weaponry is not enough, perhaps it's time I stepped it up a notch._ He dismissed the remaining traced weaponry up in the air as he began to focus on the creation of minor D-rank noble phantasms that he had witnessed Gilgamesh firing off at Saber during the Grail War.

Ornate maces, short swords, axes, and an arsenal of various weaponry began to fill the air. Swords that were used to slay mythical beasts, spears and great swords said to have saved a country, none were excluded. The thought that he had access to weapons of even greater legend than what he had now just traced was disheartening. In his quest to save all, he had become a target of peoples fears, the fact that he could destroy entire establishments by tracing a single weapon even further justifying it. He would bear their fears nonetheless, for if their fear would save them in the end, who was he to deny them their salvation.

For the second time in the past half an hour, everyone stopped and stared at the scene that could only ever have been said to have come from a story; stories mind you, where the enemy always dies. Be that as it may, life more often than not does not follow the course of a story.

Like lightning they struck down with forces strong enough to form large craters where they landed. Others produced lightning or fire on impact, a side note that Gari would soon find out as one had landed next him before setting off and causing a loud explosion that singed a nearby wall.

"Shit!" Gari swore as he narrowly saved his life by substituting himself with a long gone Iwa-nin, but that did not mean that he was undamaged. He stared ruefully as he watched his flak jacket burn into embers as he had to remove it since it was caught in the resulting flame. He had also sustained minor burns.

Emiko though, was not so lucky. She had not dodged in time as a spear with a red ribbon attached to its but-end discharged lightning next to her; sending it coursing through her veins. She survived however, possibly because of her firm grip on her sword which was rooted to the ground. Her hair stood on end as she swayed from side to side, before Gari appeared next to her to steady her.

"We should go. Too much time has been wasted already." Gari said as he stared blankly at the crowd of Uzumaki, not knowing who he had to direct his gaze upon.

Emiko breathed in deeply, watching wearily as the literal armory over head loomed ominously over them, before nodding her head in a gesture of approval.

Tsuki and Keisuke sighed in relief as they listened in, Tsuki though, was more relieved of the fact that they would stop targeting him. He too was relieved that he would no longer have a reason to kill them.

Taking a single contemptuous glance in his direction, Emiko shot off with Gari in order to make their escape, but a bright light enveloped everyone in the room.

After his vision cleared from the light, he noticed that he was in familiar terrain, the training ground by his house to be precise. He had also noticed that he was not alone, everyone else had been transferred too.

Emiko and Gari lay sprawled on the grass as they had been mid-jump as they were transferred. He realized then that it was the work of the seal around the shelter that had transported them here. The first and second layer must have been destroyed in the aftermath of his destruction, activating the third and fourth layer which in turn brought them here.

Groggily, Emiko and Gari rose from the ground and surveyed their change of surroundings. They did not do so for long however, since for all they could know, they could just be deeper in enemy territory. They shot off in the direction of the eastern wall located around half of a kilometre away.

He did not send any weapons to persue them as they left, he had killed enough for a single day. He turned to face all of the people who had protected him and found them all quietly staring at him as Tsuki followed by Keisuke began coming towards him.

"Our hero!" A tall man wearing a blue yukata proclaimed.

"Did you see those blades Kaa-san? They were like whoosh and whoosh and BANG!" A young child barely five years old said as he made waving motions with his arms before blowing them back to represent the booming sounds his weapons had made on impact. The boy's mother and father had kept him from seeing the deaths his artillery had caused, and he realized it was the same for all children. It was fortunate that he had reinforcement to better his eye sight or he would not have been able to see Emiko or Gari so clearly as they charged at him; it didn't help when a person in front of him would temporarily cover them from his line of vision either.

"Yes, yes I did Souta. Our next Clan Head will be one to fear and revere won't he?" The mother of Souta said as she held him in her arms; the father spreading an arm around both of them.

From all around him everyone praised him, more than once even. A set of hands grabs him by his relatively tiny waist and hoisted him up to be held in a cradle.

"Shirou-sama, that was amazing. You saved everyone's lives." Tsuki said as she hugged him closely before extending him out to see. "I had believed that you were a prodigy, but now...I have no words to describe."

"I know what you mean Tsuki, but maybe one day he'll catch up to me, a seal master of the highest calibure that has never ever been defeated before!" Keisuke said seriously.

Tsuki dead panned, this was why she had chosen to ignore Keisuke on every meeting. It was only recently when she had talked to Tsubasa to buy baby food that she had decided to give him a chance to associate with her. A chance that she was already beginning to regret.

To make him less irritating to be around she would have to fix his ego, but how to go about doing that...Ah!

"Constipation." Keisuke choked on his spit. "Tsubasa had once said that finding a cure for your arrogance had cost...what?...her life's spending's? And all that time the answer lied...excuse me, where? in the toilet? It had taken only one time for you to get constipated and every ounce of your arrogance faded away along with your will to get off the toilet." Tsuki said smugly.

A silence passed as everyone digested what they had just heard, before they all began laughing openly at Keisuke's face which was frozen in shock. His mouth remained wide open as his face paled considerably, like he was re-living a scene in his life that he would rather not re-live.

He too had to admit that it was a bit funny.

It took a moment for Keisuke to snap out of his frozen state as his face drastically changed from pale to cherry red.

"Tsubasa that traitor! We had an agreement!"

A rustling sound alerts everyone's attention to their right.

His father and mother had appeared and rushed towards him followed by a whole bunch of Uzu shinobi and a group of individuals who he did not recognize.

* * *

><p>I'm a bit embarrassed at the fact that I had spelled Uzushiogakure wrong on my chapter titles, but whatever what's done is done.<p>

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Fate series.

**Special thanks to souvikkundu0017 for providing Information**


	6. A New Beginning

He walked sedately down the rows of broken structures and debris still unrepaired from the skirmish that had occurred three years prior. Although most of the village had been repaired, many small areas had not been attended to yet and as such have been left empty of people, which is why he was there.

Taking a step forward, he hesitated before sighing and facing the direction of the repaired portion of the village. There to be forever preserved through time on a building's side was a portrait of a sky filled with blades.

It was created in honor of him to show the Uzumaki's appreciation of his efforts to save them. The portrait did not depict him in any way, shape, or form for danger to his person. Leading him to believe that the people in the village he lived with were a paranoid bunch, but at the same time a hearty bunch as well.

Everyone who lived in the village knew of the significance of the portrait, of the one to deliver them away from their perceived evil. Parents recounted tales of his heroic deed to their children, men and women alike were compelled to bow in his presence, yet for all the good in their hearts they could not see that he found the praise impractical.

It was true in the fact that he did save them, but he had not done so to be treated better than the others. To be viewed as a being on a level above them. Still though, he would not stop them if they found a sense of meaning through their acts of praise.

His eyes turned towards the woman he had sensed approaching his location due to his years of experience. Her face was round with a narrow chin that emphasized her high cheek bones and narrow brown eyes that looked far from pleased. Her small pointed nose and thin pinkish lips were scrunched in a frown as her red hair which was normally done to the side was tied into a neat bun.

"Shirou-sama, I hope that you know that I am very disappointed in you." she said firmly.

"I know that you probably are Tsuki." He said as he knew he had been the one in the wrong.

"If you knew that already then why? Why did you again decide to forgo your free time with the other children and instead wander around in the desolate areas of the village?" Tsuki asked concerned about his behavior.

He brought his right hand over his head as he stared at the ground and kicked at a loose rock; watching it sail over the rubble and into the nearby river. What could he say? That he wasn't the most comfortable around the people he associated with aside from his close relations? That he found their constant praise unpleasant? Of course not.

Here, where he stood on the remains of wrecked buildings and structures is where he felt most passionately about his ideals. That what he was striving for, his purpose in life was not wrong, but utterly and wholly correct. It reminded him of the results of the Great Fire in Fuyuki which killed hundreds of innocent people; rekindling the memories of his time in it and the fires that lashed out like the hands of an angry god at anything nearby. And for that reason, it drove him to train harder, to be stronger; so that in this new life in which he had attained, he would live to continue saving others.

Tsuki waited for a reply, but he could only smile languidly at her direction. She sighed, knelt down on a knee, and brushed a stray lock of her hair from her eyes before stretching a hand out for him to take.

He placed his hand in hers.

"You may not tell me your true reasons now, but I hope someday you just might tell me." Tsuki said as she stood up and began walking with him in tow.

* * *

><p>They reached the old dango shop that Tsuki used to frequent with her parents before she lost them to the Gold and Silver brothers during her teenage years. It was the time in her life where she had shunned everything around her, devoting everything to get stronger for revenge. A revenge she would not have the chance to attain had she died on the day of an encounter with Kumo-nin that she had foolishly attacked.<p>

Had it not been for Shizuka and Toma rescuing her, she would have died and never achieve vengeance for her parents; thus earning her loyalty through a debt that must be repaid. It was also them who gave her life new meaning through their constant interaction with her. And for that, they had earned her true loyalty and not simply one earned from the gratitude of saving her life. She smiled wistfully as she stared at a broken table near the destroyed back end of the shop; imagining her younger self sitting there on the lap of her mother while her father arrived smiling and holding three sticks of dango in his hands.

The memory however was replaced with a memory of her sitting in her home on an empty table alone with a hollow look in her eyes; the area around her in disarray. She clenched her hands at the stark memory.

"Tsuki?" Shirou said as he noticed the change in pressure on his hand and the way Tsuki's face had paled.

Tsuki looked down at her hands and realized what she had been doing before apologizing to Shirou and playing it off as old memories. It was a few minutes later of silent walking until the silence was broken.

"Shirou-sama, you have your first basic fuinjutsu training with your great grandfather today. Are you feeling up for it, or would you rather return home where your mother is waiting?"

"I'll do it."

"That's the spirit. No Uzumaki seal master has ever become as good as they are without their desire to learn fuinjutsu." Tsuki said as she turned to look at Shirou, a smile on her face to brighten the mood a little.

They turned past a destroyed post and began making their way towards Shirou's home's separate complex; moving farther away from the repaired portion of the village where Shirou had been training with Toma in taijutsu in the main training hall.

The scenery around them continued to get more disastrous as they made their way farther and farther away from the rebuilt portion of the village.

"To think that this used to be one of our busiest shopping districts, but now..." Tsuki looked at a partially destroyed sign; the colored paints written across the stretched canvas over-top it fading from sight. "It has been reduced to such a pitiful state."

"Structures can be rebuilt as long as the people who built them live." Shirou said simply.

Shirou could tell from the widening of Tsuki's eyes that he had yet again caught her by surprise through his maturity. There had been other times where he had done so, but not solely towards Tsuki. Other times it was his mother or father, but the majority of the time was with his great grandfather.

Since he first demonstrated the ability to comprehend complex thought processes his great grandfather had taken it upon himself to preach to him about philosophy in order to teach him of its importance. It was to his great grandfather's surprise however, that he had been the one to lecture him on his own views and philosophies which then lead to periodic get-together's.

"Make way!" A young man wearing a torn brown yukata said as he hurriedly zipped passed them while holding on to a very ill looking child. The man ran passed a destroyed vendors shop and quickly moved onto the main road that lead to the reconstructed portion of the village.

A legend had been born on that fateful day three years prior; a legend that had spread far and wide through word of mouth and letters; gaining fame and skepticism from the masses.

_'Lifesaver: The sword that cures all ailments and injuries regardless of severity.'_

The name Lifesaver, had originated from Konoha; primarily due to one Kushina Uzumaki who after being informed of Uzushigakure's status had begun recounting tails of how great her village was. Along those lines, she mentioned Lifesaver when questioned by a wimpy looking(from her perspective) boy named Minato Namikaze as to how the Uzumaki were able to get up and fight even after suffering fatal injuries.

Civilians viewed the legend as a form of salvation or hope; a symbol that disease and injury would not mean death. To shinobi it meant possibilities. Possibilities to enhance military strength, obtain field advantages, and boost economy through profits earned from treatment. Yet a legend is what most individuals simply viewed it as; a fairy tail exaggerated out of proportion to lure them into the mysterious grasp of the Uzumaki.

For some desperate enough to have gone to the Uzumaki in hopes of treatment for whatever ailments impeded their daily lives, they were the ones to truly behold the truth of the legend. It was they who were still in a moment of elation after experiencing the impossible that had vigorously spread the word in attempts to legitimize the legend; but none would really trust the words of mere civilians. Be that as it may, the added attention to the legend had caught the attention of a Daimyo; one that was in need of treatment for a disease said to be incurable. With nothing left to lose the Daimyo had taken his horse-drawn carriage along with his retainers and left for Uzushiogakure. Upon obtaining access, he was brought into a secured room where he encountered first hand the legitimacy of the legend.

It was said from the Daimyo's retainers that their lord had come out of the room looking healthier than he has ever been in his entire life time; his face no longer gaunt, but full and lively.

"Truly," The Daimyo said his voice nearly wavering, "The legend of Lifesaver be true."

Like a combustion type chemical reaction, the legend had become reality and in doing so had increased the reputation of Uzushiogakure. No longer was it simply known as the village of longevity and seal masters, but the village of new beginning; giving a new lease on life to the ill or handicapped.

The gained fame was not without consequence however. The consequence being the amount of individuals who wished for access passed the great barrier and into Uzushiogakure to receive treatment.

One could never tell if there was an enemy shinobi in disguise blending in with the crowd.

In accordance to the failure of the great barrier during the invasion four years prior, Toma had taken it upon himself to improve it as all Uzumaki Clan Heads have done before. Prior to the invasion the barrier had operated by blocking out anything deemed dangerous which included anybody with chakra levels above a civilian's, aside from the Uzumaki. Clearly, that approach did not work very well. So as a way to improve the barrier Toma had applied a secondary seal to judge an individuals intents and purposes before giving them access.

With the new addition to the great barrier, many people gained access to Uzushiogakure, their intents deemed un-harmful to the village. Those who were stopped by the barrier however were the ones that the Uzumaki detained and sent back to whatever land they had come from; solving the problem of infiltration.

"Shirou-sama, we best get going." Tsuki said as she gave a slight tug on Shirou's arm.

He nodded and they continued off to his training.

* * *

><p>"The art of fuinjutsu is a deadly yet advantageous skill to add into your arsenal." Hideki said as he stared him in the eyes. "The price of failure though, could lead to your untimely death. Are you prepared to risk your life? To walk along side death?"<p>

A memory popped into his head, the sequence of words bringing it out onto the forefront of his mind.

_"To be a Magus is to walk with death," said Emiya Kiritsugu as he stared down at him from their position at their porch; the full moon overhead illuminating their features. "Shirou, are you prepared to risk your life? To walk along side death?"_

He smiled. The answer was already obvious to him.

"Yes."

"Then so be it." He watched as his great grandfather walked over towards a counter filled with scrolls and writing utensils. "Catch."

He raised a hand to catch a thin brush as his other hand caught a blank scroll.

"We will begin by practicing your calligraphy much like your sister Kushina had when she was your age; four I believe." Hideki scratched at his head with his hand while his face scrunched up as he tried to recall something. A few seconds had passed before Hideki's expression brightened up. "Ah. That's right; she should be coming home for her thirteenth birthday on July tenth around a week from now."

"That's good to hear." He said earnestly as he unraveled the blank scroll in front of him. He picked up the brush and began writing basic characters down; concentrating on steadying his hand so as not to create any errors.

Hideki stared over at his work and nodded in approval before sitting down on a cushion laid out on the floor; a cup of tea situated beside him on a low table. They remained that way for the duration of the lesson, him getting accustomed to writing again as Hideki periodically drank his hot tea.

"That will be enough for today." Hideki said as he looked towards him and at the three scrolls that he had filled out over the course of two hours. "We will resume the day after tomorrow at the same time."

He nodded his head in understanding.

Hideki stood up as he motioned for him to do so as well.

"Now that the lesson is over, how goes your control over your bloodline?"

"Like I have said before," he stretched a hand out and began tracing a nameless blade, "It's not a bloodline."

Hideki smiled down at him in amusement while ruffling his hair.

"Child, you are still young and ignorant to the true workings of this world."

He frowned at Hideki as the sword fully materialized.

"Fine then." Hideki began running a hand down his beard. "Suppose that what you have isn't a bloodline. Then how do you explain that sword you have just created?"

"Magic." He said frankly in as serious of a tone as his little body could manage.

Hideki let out a mirthful laugh that had escaped through his lips.

"I'm serious."

Hideki stopped laughing as he smiled back down at him.

"Of all the things I would have expected a child as intelligent and gifted as you to say, magic was not one of them." Hideki began waving a hand flippantly in the air. "Magic simply does not exist. Take for example this blade that you just made," he took the traced sword from him and inspected it. "I can sense the presence of chakra and another source of energy which is clearly not magic."

He raised an eyebrow as a sign for elaboration.

"Over the course of time and my continued presence near you, I have concluded two things. One," he raised his index finger. "You do indeed draw upon a secondary source of energy. And two," he raised his middle finger. "It is similar to the spiritual half of chakra."

He listened carefully; the explanation might very well benefit his overall understanding of chakra.

"Like all children you were born with chakra and its two halves, spiritual and physical. Both halves were equal at first until your physical half began increasing at a larger rate than the spiritual. It was an oddity that the two halves would be disproportional to each other, which is why I began thinking; thinking of variables as to why such an unusual phenomenon would occur."

Hideki walked over to a scale and placed two different weights on either side, the right side with an additional weight making it heavier than the other.

"Tell me Shirou, why does the scale tilt to the right?"

"There are two weights on the right side."

"Precisely. And what must you do to create balance, an equilibrium if you will."

"Add weight to the other side." Gears began spinning in his head. Where could this conversation be leading too?

"Correct. If the right side represented your spiritual half, then the left signifies you're physical." The pieces clicked into place in his mind. "Your spiritual half had an added weight to it in the form of your unknown energy source. In response to this imbalance your physical half began increasing to fix the disproportion and achieve equilibrium. You're lucky in the sense that your physical chakra is strengthening and increasing itself even without your taijustu training."

Hideki removed the additional weight on the right side of the scale and it balanced, the left side equal to the right. It was a sign, a symbol to show him that his two halves of chakra were once the same without the presence of his od, a component of prana found within living organisms. The fact that his magic circuits convert the abundance of untapped mana in the air into usable prana for him is also another factor to take not of; though the process takes awhile.

"That is how I had deduced the properties of your secondary energy." Hideki said while nodding his head. "What this means for you however, I have yet to know."

A thought struck his mind.

"That still doesn't prove as to why my secondary source of energy can't be magic." He said.

"Shirou. You have to understand that magic isn't real."

"Grandpa, listen to me. Magic is as real as chakra."

Hideki sighed.

"Listen Shirou..."

Hideki went on to elaborate about examples of traveling caravans that claim to use magic, but more or less use chakra to fuel their performances; Hideki listed a few other things as well.

"Then call it magecraft."

"That's just a different context of magic."

"Then let me prov-"

"Child, there are more important matters to discuss than the make believe."

He bit back a snarky remark that was forming at the back of his mind and settled on showing his annoyance through scowling. It was at this time that his mother walked in carrying a tray of snacks. She looked back and forth between his obvious scowl and Hideki; his scowl and Hideki who was slowly inching his way away. An imaginary light bulb clicked above her head.

"Grandpa..." She placed the tray of snacks down as she lifted up her sleeves. "Were you hurting Shirou's feelings?" Hideki backed away while holding his hands up in a placating manor before he promptly jumped out of the window, causing his mother to jump out after him.

"Wait Shizuka! It's a misunderstanding!"

"Then why are you running!"

"Because you scare me!"

"Are you implying that I'm ugly? That my looks scare you?!"

"Of course not I-"

He shut the window to block out the noise outside before he walked up to the tray of snacks and began munching on a stick of pockey; his traced sword dissipating into the air. He sat down and sighed at the antics of his family. Why couldn't he get a normal family again? Oh that's right, damn E-rank luck.

* * *

><p>"Shi-chan I've missed you!" Kushina strangled him in a bone crushing hug. "You've gotten so big. The last time I remember seeing you is when you were a tiny baby." She pulled away to see him blue-faced. "Oh no Shi-chan! What happened to you?!"<p>

His father pulled Kushina off of him so that he could breathe again and return to the realm of the living. He didn't appreciate the laughter around him which was obviously directed at his expense.

"I see that it's as lively as it was three years ago." Said Sakumo Hatake as he walked through the house's front door which Kushina had kicked open. He had learned of the man's name fairly recently from an out of date bingo book that his father had left open on his study.

"But that's why I call it home!" Tsubasa said as she too entered through the front door; a young silver haired child following behind her.

"Agreed." said Shizuka, Hideki, Toma, and Tsuki in unison before their eyes were all drawn towards the youngling wearing a simple black outfit that had entered with Tsubasa.

"Tsubasa, is this?" Tsubasa nodded her head.

"He's so cute!" Shizuka said as she lunged at the child who dodged before moving to his father's side.

"Don't touch me." The child said indifferently before turning his face away.

"Kakashi! What have I told you about that attitude?!" Kakashi turned to face his mother, Tsubasa.

"A shinobi must never let his guard down."

"You're three, bordering on four and presently not attending the shinobi academy. So don't you dare go on about 'shinobi this' or 'shinobi that' to me again you hear me! You're still too young."

"Now now Tsubasa. If Kakashi wants to train to become a shinobi early, who are we to stop him?" Sakumo said; gaining Tsubasa's ire as Kakashi nodded his head.

Tsubasa sighed; they would postpone the argument for a different occasion.

He was gathered along with Kushina and Kakashi and deposited into Kushina's room which had been left unchanged. The adults all gathered together in the living room. They sat in silence for all of three seconds before Kushina began pelting him with questions, Kakashi remaining indifferent from where he sat on the carpeted floor.

"So how's Konoha been?" He asked.

For a moment, Kushina's exuberance that had been radiating off of her in waves faltered before re-igniting.

"It's great! Mito-sama and Lord Third have been treating me really well and I've also made a friend named Mikoto Uchiha. There's this ramen shop too that I discovered with ramen that taste just as good as mom's!"

"Well, as long as you're treated right I'll be happy for you." He said with a smile; a smile that Kushina turned away from. She quickly began to change the subject by asking about Lifesaver which earned Kakashi's attention.

"Is it true Shi-chan?" Kushina asked as Kakashi inched closer.

He sighed before answering in the positive; watching the scepticism that formed on Kakashi's face and the amazed look that adorned Kushina's. Truthfully, he had intended on un-tracing Lifesaver at the end of the battle like he did with all the others, but the faces the people made as they watched their precious people recover from sure death had been enough to persuade him to do otherwise.

The sole thing that he was pleased about for the outcome of the previous battle was that word had not spread about him and his abilities; the added attention would not have been pleasant. The attention he received in the village on a daily basis was already enough for him.

"Hey Shi-chan, lets go outside. It's boring in my room when we do nothing." Kushina said cheerily as she got up and began pulling on his arm; Kakashi standing up as well. He resisted at first, but when he thought of Kushina's position of being away from home for so long, he couldn't find the strength to continue to resist.

They climbed out the nearby window located parallel to Kushina's bed and quietly snuck out. In the living room, Hideki perked up before shrugging; he would let kids be kids today.

"So where are we headed?" Kakashi asked.

"I want to go see the remains of the battle field. It shouldn't be very far away since I saw it on my way here." Kushina said as she began motioning for them to follow. Kakashi found no problem with complying; opting to see the battle ground his father had fought on.

He had remained still however, hesitant to let children wander in such a hazardous place.

He would later realize the irony of his thought processes.

"Why?" He asked; prompting Kushina and Kakashi to stop to look at him. "All that's there is barren land, the rubble from destroyed structures, and forgotten weaponry.

"You sound as if you've been there." Kakashi said a hint of curiosity in his tone.

"That's because I have."

"Why?" Kushina asked.

"I believe I asked first." He said, not wanting to divulge his reasons.

Kushina sighed before she explained that she wanted to locate a rare fuinjutsu scroll which _may_ not have been used and _may_ be lying somewhere on the battlefield. She explained that she wanted to study its functioning's since their parents hadn't given her permission to learn the more deadly arts of fuinjutsu; they saying that what she had already learned would be enough for her coming Chunin Exam in Konohagakure in five months.

_Chunin Exam? I'll have to ask about that later._ He thought.

"Now that my explanations over, what's yours Shirou?" Kushina inquired a red eyebrow raised.

"Nothing in general, I just go there from time to time." He said elusively. If anyone noticed, they paid it no mind.

"Then let's go. You should be an expert at getting there." Kushina said as she pulled him along; Kakashi trailing behind.

"I don't th-" He was cut off.

"You should give up. A good shinobi knows when the situation is out of his hands." Kakashi said. He stared at him for a moment before a modicum of vindictiveness took over him.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he could no longer move his body; a black key stabbed into his shadow behind him.

A black key is a charm used by agents of the church in his world to repel demons. They take the form of long rapier-like swords that are more or less generally thrown. If it were to pierce the shadow of a target, that target will be unable to move their body, leaving them to the mercy of the black key's wielder.

As Kushina continued to drag him along, he stared innocently at Kakashi, watching as his eyes narrowed in on him. Only when Kushina had begun to notice the absence of their third party member did he un-trace the black key; causing Kakashi to tumble forward, the transition from unable to able to move catching him by surprise.

"Kakashi! What are you waiting for?!" Kushina yelled from around two hundred meters away.

They waited for Kakashi to catch up to them before continuing on their way. It was five minutes later that Kakashi who was staring at him the entire time snuck up beside him.

"I don't know how you did that, but I've got my eyes on you." Kakashi pointed at his eyes before pointing at him. "There won't be a next time." He stared back at him cluelessly.

"You guys sure are getting along." Kushina said.

Kakashi glared at her while he just smiled amusedly.

* * *

><p>Their search through the battle field had been uneventful. Kushina had not found a rare scroll of any kind and Kakashi just spent his time looking at the damage done to the surroundings; he doing much the same.<p>

It wasn't until they began making their way back did a glint of steal catch his eye. It was the chipped end of a large sword protruding from a spot next to the riverbank. He stared at it before subconsciously grasping at it and storing it in his Unlimited Blade Works. Once the information flowing through his head had subsided he stared in wonder at his discovery before a part of the river swelled up and washed it away.

"Shirou lets go." Kushina said dejectedly, upset that she had not found a rare scroll. Kakashi just continued on ahead.

"I'm coming." He said.

On arrival to their house, they snuck back in through Kushina's window and into her room.

"Enjoy yourselves?" Hideki asked from his position leaning on Kushina's open door.

Kushina smiled sheepishly as she scratched at the back of her head while Kakashi remained indifferent. He however simply stared.

"You knew didn't you?" He asked.

"Of course I did. I could sense your chakra signatures leaving; though I suspect that Sakumo and your father did as well." Hideki said with his arms crossed as he stared at the three of them.

"What's a chakra signature?" He asked.

"A chakra signature is the unique chakra that each person gives off that can be detected by sensory-nin or highly experienced shinobi such as me. Don't worry though, your not in trouble." Hideki said as he began ushering them into the living room where everyone was present.

As he was the first to enter, he was the only one to notice the tense atmosphere before it dissipated; grim looks turned into smiles. He saw his father nod at Sakumo before both of them left the living room. Kushina and Kakashi followed by Hideki then walked in.

"Happy Thirteenth Birthday Kushina!" Shizuka said as she unraveled and activated multiple scrolls around her which released various foods and entertainment items. "Let the celebration begin!" She yelled.

The party that soon followed had been an entertaining and joyful affair. Kushina enjoyed all the positive attention she received and Kakashi was even forced to join in by his mother on the party games; whether he enjoyed it or not is up for debate. Through it all however, a nagging feeling kept interrupting him from fully enjoying himself. There was something in the way that the adults had swiftly changed their attitudes that disturbed him. His parents have been keeping him away from serious matters the more he aged and he didn't like it. Perhaps when he was a toddler they believed that he could not comprehend their conversations, but those days are over. He would have to find out the problem himself.

Excusing himself from the party, he began to look for the only two individuals absent, his father and Sakumo Hatake. If he was going to discover the problem those two would definitely know, but getting them to tell him was a different matter. He searched the kitchen, his father's study, and the training room located in a dojo beside their house, but he couldn't find them. Finally, when he looked up at the moon directly over-head of his house did he find them staring at him. It didn't take long for him to realize that they had been watching him all along.

_"A chakra signature is the unique chakra that each person gives off that can be detected by sensory-nin or highly experienced shinobi." Hideki said. _

He was a fool. Of course they sensed that he had strayed from the party and decided to check up on him.

"Shirou what are you trying to do by searching for us?" Toma asked after body flickering next to him.

As he was thinking of an explanation, Sakumo joined them.

"Your child is perceptive Toma-san. I had believed that we had not incurred the children's curiosities, but your son proves me otherwise."

"Of course, he is my son."

"A little boastful aren't we?"

"Isn't every father?"

Sakumo laughed merrily as he agreed.

"So, what do you want Shirou?" Toma asked again waiting for his response.

He couldn't straight up ask for answers, for that was for certain. He would have to word his questions differently, something he knew he was never good at. The role was more suited for Kotomine Kirei a master of lies and deceit and the mediator of the fifth Holy Grail War in which he participated in. The man could probably bullshit his way into getting you to spill your darkest secrets.

"I want to become a shinobi." He said.

"Shirou, we've been over this already. Of course you can be a shinobi, but just not now or the next few years. I would feel safer if you chose to do so when you're at least ten, but I know that's impossible." Toma said.

"Why?" He asked.

Toma scratched at the back of his head as Sakumo patted him on the back.

"We are not living in the best of times right now and danger can be lurking anywhere from outside our walls."

"What kind of danger?"

Sakumo leaned closer to Toma and whispered in his ear. Taking this as a chance he reinforced his ears to listen in.

_"Be careful of what you say. A child should not know of the dangers of war."_ Sakumo whispered into Toma's ear.

War? There is war going on?

Toma bent down to meet him at eye level.

"There are and will be bad people outside for the coming years Shirou; people who wouldn't think twice about hurting you. Let's leave it at that." Toma said while patting his shoulder.

"Okay." He said absentmindedly, to caught up in his own thoughts. Toma directed him back into the party, but he was to distracted to join in on the merry making; staying off to the side like Kakashi who was avoiding his mother so as not to participate in anymore 'senseless games'.

His absentmindedness was not to last however, Kushina's and his mother's exuberance fending off his more morbid thoughts and dragging him into their pacing. He supposed it was for the best, a celebration is not a place to brood about things that are out of his control.

He watched as Kakashi was dragged away by Tsubasa, his efforts at concealing his presence useless and forced to wear a party cone with a large star glowing blue on top. It was comical in the sense that Kakashi remained stone-faced and serious while surrounded by the most colorful of objects.

Unfortunately for Kakashi, his seriousness had made him seem all the cuter in the eyes of the adults present. He tried valiantly to flee the approaching hands that he knew would be pinching at his cheeks, but it was a futile effort; his dad was nowhere in sight to bail him out.

He sighed, he would worry about the troubles of the world later, for now he would simply enjoy himself and celebrate his sister's birthday like family should.

* * *

><p>"Shirou-sama, Tsuki-san, would you like to try our latest batch of cinnamon buns?" Hachi the owner of 'Baked Wonders' asked from his shop's door.<p>

"No thank you Hachi, were running late on an errand, but we appreciate your sentiments." Tsuki said as he agreed with her.

Similar offers were offered to them as they walked through the market district of the village on their way to deliver food to the gate guards.

It was always the same ever since he first walked through the village; everyone waved at him, everyone greeted him, and everyone offered their services. In turn he would wave back, exchange salutations, and offer his own services such as delivering or repairing items. Take for example, his current task of transporting meals to the guards who guard the entrance to the main gate.

On the way, his thoughts wandered back to Kushina, Kakashi, Sakumo, and Tsubasa who had left for Konoha the day after the party; Sakumo and Tsubasa acting as escorts. He would be lying to himself if he said that he was happy with Kushina leaving simply because he was not.

The time Kushina spent in Uzushiogakure had been when she was most vibrant, a far cry from how anxious she was on the moment of her departure. It wasn't obvious to him at first, but he was sure that she was hiding her true feelings about Konoha based on the way she changed conversation subjects and the fake smiles she'd turn his way.

Based on how much his mother and father were fidgeting on her time of departure, it was safe for him to assume that they believed so as well. If not for his great-grandfather placing a hand on both of their shoulders and shaking his head at them, he did not know what they would have done.

Kushina's day of departure had also been the start of his investigation regarding the war he presumed is currently ongoing or soon to start. Unfortunately, his appearance as a child had done him no good and had severely limited his access to information. He would not give up however; it was just simply a work-in-progress.

As they neared the gate of the village, the sounds of far too many voices began to filter into their ears. This was not the first time he had been asked to deliver food to the gate guards along with Tsuki and he knew without a doubt that it was never this loud. Quickly making their way closer, they bore witness to the sight of hundreds upon hundreds of people. Most appeared haggard or suffering from injuries inflicted on their person. And the children...It was horrible. They were obviously malnourished, making their already pale skin a sickly white as their bones, rib-cage and all were clearly visible. It was not a pleasant sight to see.

"Tsuki-san! You came just in time, I-I don't know what to do!" Keiji Uzumaki said. He was one of two gate guards at the main entrance.

"You have to calm down first Keiji-san. Than you can properly explain to me what is going on." Tsuki said.

Keiji began taking deep breaths before letting them out to calm himself. Finally after a few deep breaths, he began describing the situation.

"It began this morning. Sasami and I were out on watch like normal when a large group of these people began making their way towards us. At first we believed that they were simply the regular people who arrive to receive treatment from Lifesaver, but that wasn't it. These people...They are refugees of Kirigakure seeking sanctuary here."

Tsuki's eyes widened before she asked Keiji to continue.

"Sasami and I had stopped them since they would need the permission of Toma-sama for what they were asking for." Keiji began rubbing at his forehead with his right hand. "I've asked Sasami to inform Toma-sama of this predicament mere minutes ago and the number of people have literally quadrupled. The thing is Tsuki-san, I don't want to turn them away even if Toma-sama refuses, however slim a chance that might be. Look at them; they are desperate enough as it is." Keiji said as he motioned an arm at the ever growing crowd's direction.

A frail woman limped towards them carrying an emaciated looking baby who was crying for milk that was impossible for the mother to provide.

"...Please..." The woman's mouth continued moving, but no words would come out. The only indication of her intentions was her out-stretched arms holding the baby towards them.

Keiji quickly moved to support the woman who seemed to be on the verge of collapsing from sheer exhaustion.

He had seen enough. These people needed help here and now; some of them wouldn't last long enough for Sasami to return with orders from his father.

"Let them in. I will deal with whatever consequences that may arise from the results of my actions on this day." He said resolutely.

* * *

><p>A bit late and a bit short, but life has been killer. To start off, I've stopped using the Japanese family honorifics because it sounded a bit off to me. (Let me know if you would prefer that I use them) Also, in the story when I'm writing from Shirou's perspective I'm confused whether or not I should just call his parents by their names in the dialogues (Which I did) or put it as 'His father said, or 'His mother said.' Opinions about this would be much appreciated on later chapters.<p>

Feel free to criticize the story on things that can help make this story better. That's about it.

Thank you for reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Fate series.

**Special thanks to souvikkundu0017 for providing Information**


	7. A Shinobi of Uzu

"Class, I would like to introduce you to a new student." The teacher, Motoharu Uzumaki said with more enthusiasm than he did with most things. He turned his head towards the door and made eye contact with the individual outside. "You may come in."

She watched curiously as the door slid open and a child perhaps a year or two older than her walked in. He wore a form fitting navy-blue yukata and had a belt of scrolls around him that ran along his waist. More importantly, he had the village head band strapped across his right arm which signified his position as a shinobi of Uzu.

The boy looked across the room as he made his way to Motoharu; his amber eyes that his red hair nearly reached striking a cord with most people in the room.

"Class, I would like to introduce you to Shirou Uzumaki though I believe many of you already know who he is." Excited whispers began emanating from the students at the back of the class before it spread out to encompass everyone.

A student raised their hand.

"Yes, Souta-kun?"

"He has a head band." Souta said frankly.

"I'm quite aware; he is a Genin after all." Motoharu looked at a slip of paper on his desk before looking back up to the class. "He is with us for special reasons. And no, I will not disclose them." Many hands that had been raised up dropped from the air and back down onto the laps of their owners.

"You may introduce yourself Shirou-sama."

She watched as Shirou walked up to the front of the class and faced them, an uncertain look on his face. She could almost imagine Shirou not mustering up the courage to speak. In short, he looked wimpy to her.

"Uhm, ah hi. My names Shirou Uzumaki, but you can call me Shirou. Please take care of me." Shirou said as he bowed down in a ninety degree angle, his arms to his side. There was silence. He began to scratch at the back of his head wondering where he had gone wrong in that introduction; it was perfect; well at least it was for Homurahara Academy. He looked up to see that everyone was simply staring at him.

_'Well talk about anticlimactic.'_ she thought. She had seen the amount of attention that Shirou got as he entered the room; back straight and an aura of confidence so she had assumed that he would have had something grand to say, but no. Well, she shouldn't have expected anything great from a person who she had deemed wimpy anyway.

The class burst into hushed whispers as Motoharu instructed Shirou to sit down at an open spot at the far right corner of the classroom. The whispers died down as the lesson began, but the stares directed at Shirou did not.

_'What's the big deal about him anyway?_' She thought as she continued to watch the others around her continue to sneak looks at him. Lost in her thoughts she didn't hear the bell ring that signaled the start of lunch break until she was one of the only people left in the room. The others being Shirou and a group of people asking questions around him.

"How old are you?" They asked.

"Seven." He responded.

She got up, causing the chair that she sat on to screech against the floor before she slid it back to position and quickly left the room; drawing attention to herself as she left.

She sat alone on the lush green grass leaning against the single tree that had grown on the academy grounds. She had no lunch of her own except for an apple an she had picked from a tree on her way to the academy. Her stomach growled; it wanted food. With restrained vigor, she took her time eating the apple by simply nibbling on it to make it last until lunch ended, yet it was not to be as she had finished it to quickly.

Her stomach continued to growl, demanding sustenance, yet she had nothing left to eat. She brought her knees to her chest and hugged her arms around them to ward off the pangs of hunger that wracked itself throughout her body with no effect.

And so she sat, watching the other students play games of ninja and simply waiting for the bell to ring and for the day to move on.

A rustling in the grass caused her to turn in the direction of the sound, but there was nothing there except for an impression of two feet on the gravel. Someone had been there watching her. A heavy wind blew, blowing her untamed auburn hair back and subsequently erasing the marking left on the ground before she could get a closer look at it.

Had she simply been imagining things? Probably. Hunger can do that to a person.

The bell rang echoing across the academy grounds and signalling the end of lunch. She sighed as she made her way back to the academy; not noticing the individual that had body-flickered out of the tree she was leaning on.

She arrived first into the classroom and took her seat by the window; watching as her classmates pooled in. One after the other, desks began to be occupied by the boys and girls except for one, Shirou's desk.

Oddly enough, she found her gaze drawn to the sliding door; waiting to see if Shirou would be late. Minutes passed and the teacher had walked back into the room, but there was still no sign of him. She shook her head before covering her face with her hands. _'What's wrong with me today?'_ She thought, confused as to why she would even give the wimp even a modicum of her attention; there were more important things to do.

The final bell rang, signalling the official end of lunch and Shirou had yet to arrive. The teacher, Motoharu-san began calling attendance.

"Junichi Hozuki"

"Here."

"Katsumi Mitohasai"

"Here"

She began filtering the noise around her as she pulled out a scroll her parents had left in her possession. They had died in order for her to flee from Kiri in what is now known as The Great Escape. Her eyes glistened as she stared at the scroll, remembering the vow that she had made upon it to get stronger in order to protect what was precious to her. With gentle hands, she opened the scroll and began practicing the hand signs that would later lead her to the path of obtaining her first clan ninjutsu.

It wasn't until her name was called and all the attention was drawn towards her that she put away the scroll and began paying attention to the class again. Her eyes drifted across the room, before looking back towards Motoharu-san.

"Katsuya Ramuski."

"Here"

"Shirou Uzumaki."

"Here" Shirou raised his hand up from his spot at the far right corner of the classroom.

Her eyes bulged as she stared in Shirou's direction. _'That's impossible!'_ She thought. _'I was sure that I was paying careful attention towards the door even if I was a bit preoccupied!'_

Shirou looked in her direction, and for a moment their gazes met. There was something in that piercing gaze of his; something that subconsciously told her that he was something more than just the wimpy boy she saw him as. He smiled in her direction and she looked away; not believing in her own intuition.

She would not associate with him she decided. It was better that way; just as it was better for her to stay away from everyone else. A distant memory surfaced from the recesses of her mind; A memory that her mother and father had told her to live by as they had knocked her unconscious and loaded her into a horse drawn wagon that brought her to Uzu shortly after the refugees had been accepted in.

* * *

><p><em>"You can't trust anyone; no matter how kind, how sincere, or how reliable they may be." Said her mother as her father carried her along. They were moving swiftly; the scenery a blur, for to stop would mean sure death. Her parents wore the Kirigakure Jounin attire with the addition of blue scarf's tied loosely around their necks. "Promise me."<em>

_She was sobbing, her tears running down her face as she nodded to the words of her mother who gave her a reassuring smile._

_"That's my girl." Her mother said._

_"And mine." Her father said before his eyes narrowed in the direction of an abandoned house they had passed._

_Her father made eye contact with her mother whose eyes began to well up in tears._

_She looked uneasily at her father as she was handed off to her mother. Her father smiled wistfully at her and her mother before disappearing in a pool of water. It would be the last time that she would ever see her father's smile again._

_Her mother cradled her tightly in her arms; the tears streaming down her mothers face pouring down on her like rain. She had chosen to stay quite, not sure as to what had just happened; to caught up in the shock of it all._

_The mist in which they ran through began to thicken, its white fog concealing the light of the overhead moon._

_They reached the wagon that she would soon be placed in. There was a man tending to it, probably a peddler moving on to the next village to sell their merchandise._

_The man had looked at them and knew near instantly what was going on; of the trouble he would face if he helped them. He was a kindly man however, and had accepted to take her, but her only; her mother would have been too much of a risk._

_She felt her mother begin to separate herself from her, but she held on, not wanting to be separated. Unexpectedly, her mother had done what she had never done before, hit here; a blow aimed at her chest that was so heavy that her vision began to dim. Her body went limp, her strength all but leaving her._

_"Remember, don't trust anyone." Her mother said as she carefully placed her in the wagon before backing off a bit and staring her in the eyes. "There will be a day however that I know that you..."_

_She could only watch as her mother's mouth continued to move; her mind blocking out the rest of her mothers words as she fell unconsciousness hidden inside the wagon underneath a pile of wool; the final image of her mother's unbending will etching itself firmly into her psyche._

* * *

><p>"Reiko Yuki"<p>

"Here"

"Everyone's in attendance. Let the class begin." Motoharu said before he walked up to the black board and began writing down the continuation of the day's lesson.

The day passed and she found herself steadily making her way home in the direction of the area that the Uzumaki had graciously given up to house the refugees. She didn't walk very fast; there was nothing to look forward to anyway. Training was all that she ever did; it was all that was necessary. She didn't care if her neighbors gave her looks of pity.

Oddly enough, she spotted Shirou several paces away from her. He was moving in the same direction as her. Intrigued as to where he could be going, she followed after him; regardless of the fact that she had decided not to associate with him.

_'It wasn't associating.'_ She convinced herself, only observing.

They made their way through the bustling streets that were teeming with positive energy from the people around them. The refugees had been integrated into Uzu and as such were no longer called refugees, but official citizens of Uzu. With the protection of the Uzumaki, life had started anew for them.

Shirou turned and walked into a large building with a sizable front yard probably meant for children to play in.

Looking towards the building, she read the sign that read in large bold font 'Orphanage'

She knew this place she realized. It was where the peddler had deposited her before leaving. Her stay was not for long though, since she had somehow convinced the orphanage care takers that she could take care of herself.

Stopping, she watched from afar as Shirou exited the building; orphaned children playing around him. He was smiling she observed, a smile that was unlike the ones he had revealed at the academy. He was happy she thought; simply happy by making the lives of orphans livelier, more cheerful; whereas she spent her days training diligently alone.

She stood there for a moment longer; watching the orphans frolicking in delight in the tall grass of the front yard.

_'He isn't so bad.'_ She thought as she left. _'Perhaps...no, it's not possible. I can't possibly break my promise to mom.'_

She swiftly made her way home, her thoughts running rampant inside of her head, confusing her.

On arrival, she trained till dusk, each punch or kick she would throw, beating away at her apparent confusion.

She awoke the next morning, her body sore and achy. Nonetheless, she got up and left for the academy with no breakfast or food in hand except for a small ration bar that she was planning on saving for lunch.

Although she knew that her life style was not in any way a healthy one, she got by. It didn't matter to her if she was told that she was too skinny for her age.

Entering the academy, she sat down on her seat and simply let the day waste away. The lunch bell rang and she did what she always did, leave the room. She took out her single ration bar and began to take small nibbles as she made her way to the tree she always ate by.

Something unusual stood out to her as she made her way closer and closer to the tree. There in the particularly deep tree knot of the tree was a box wrapped in red fabric. Curious, she made her way towards it and took it in her hands.

It was fairly warm and the aroma wafting through the fabric was heavenly as it was intoxicating. Carefully, she peeled off the red fabric to discover a rather large lunch box with the Uzumaki swirl on the lid.

She looked around for the owner of the lunch, but found no one nearby who could claim that it was theirs. She gulped down the saliva that had begun forming in her mouth as she opened the lid of the lunch box. The inside was astounding, not in the least bit insignificant to the aroma produced.

Side dishes of salads topped with chicken bits were off to the side as the main dish consisted of grilled fish over top fried wild rice. There was also some kind of glaze spread evenly over top the fish that enhanced its overall appearance.

_'This probably isn't poisoned. Uzu isn't like Kiri and this is the academy.'_ She thought.

Taking a moment to decide on what to do, she decided to eat the lunch; not wanting it to go to waste. Sitting down to lean on the tree, she swiftly took the pair of chopsticks attached to the lunch box and took her first bite of the main dish. The taste was indescribable; it tasted that good, and for a moment she had lost herself in sheer bliss. The glaze not only served to enhance the appearance of the fish, but the flavor too. She moved on to the salads and was happy to discover that they too were of the same quality as the main dish.

All too soon, the lunch was no more. To be honest with herself, it was probably the best meal that she has ever had in Uzu. Her stomach growled as it had not been fully satiated. Though the meal was good, there just wasn't enough of it to feed her, a growing kunoichi. It didn't matter though; she had already eaten more than what she would normally eat in a day.

Cleaning up after herself she decided to leave the lunch box where she had found it, only to discover the presence of another boxed lunch in the tree knot; this time wrapped in a blue fabric. Placing the red wrapped lunch box back in the tree knot and not questioning as to why another lunch box had appeared, she began to eat; all the way until the lunch bell rang.

As she left, a boy smiled at a job well done, regardless of the fact that his own stomach was growling. He soon disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

She walked back into the classroom and rubbed her belly in satisfaction. For the first time that she could recall, she walked home from the academy without a single ounce of hunger. Different however, was the addition of another presence, namely Shirou.

It was true that he was only walking in the same direction to reach the orphanage that he had gone to the other day, but why was it that he had to walk beside her?

The entire walk was uneventfully silent, she choosing to remain quite as Shirou strode beside her. Unexpectedly, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Uhm," Shirou said as he retracted his hand. "Do you live in this direction?"

She turned towards Shirou and gave him the 'no duh' look before she answered yes and faced forward again.

"Do you always walk alone?"

"Yes."

"Why? Wouldn't it be better to walk home with your friends?"

"That's none of your concern." She said as she began walking faster to distance herself from Shirou, but he would have none of it.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I might have offended you. I was just curious is all."

"In what way do I look like I'm offended?"

"Well, for starters," He poked her on the forehead eliciting a mild shriek of surprise. "Your face and shoulders are tensed."

"W-what are y-"

"You're gripping hard on your pant leg," He pointed out that she was in fact gripping hard at her pant leg.

"And," She looked towards the rolling hills and lush shrubbery that they were passing by. "You're turning away from my gaze again." He dead panned.

"T-that's...Oh forget it. Bye" She waved him off, turned around, and walked away; leaving Shirou behind to contemplate what he had done wrong.

She brought a hand to her chest to alleviate her rapidly beating heart. _'Why? Why did I even bother to talk to Shirou when I ignore everyone else?'_ She thought about her social encounters and suddenly realized that Shirou had been the only one to openly talk to her; to try to understand her. A heavy feeling of remorse took over her for a moment before she brushed it off; it wasn't like she went to the academy to make friends anyway and besides, she still had her training and personal goals to achieve.

It would be a minute or two later that she would realize that she was walking in the wrong direction and promptly turn around.

* * *

><p>Several months had passed and cold gales that felt like icy prickles became warm tender caresses.<p>

_"Run! They're coming!"_

_A large man kicked down the front door of a house, splitting it in two and sending splintered shrapnel everywhere. He had a large scar that ran down his left eye and an appearance that was suited for a thug rather than an official Kirigakure shinobi. Behind him was a large group of other shinobi._

A hand reached out to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

_"Take this scroll, find mom and dad, and don't look back; no matter what happens." The teen, for he was no older than sixteen, charged at the crowd along with the rest of the clan fully knowing that they stood no chance at survival._

_"Wait! Don't go!" She reached a hand out towards her brother's distant back, but he was already too far away to reach._

The hand began tapping faster and harder on her shoulder.

_She tried feebly to get her brother's attention as she threw broken furniture at her brother's attackers, but her presence had only served to distract him. A kunai was sent spiraling at her in trajectory with her head. Panicked, she stood frozen as the kunai neared her, but a wall of igneous rock formed around her and stopped it in its tracks._

The hand retracted itself as a sigh could be heard.

_"Why are you still here?!" Her brother appeared within the secure chamber that he had created._

_"I-I can't leave without you!"_

_Her brother sighed before smiling and patting her on the head._

_"Listen, let's play one last game; a sibling's game. Please, close your eyes for me."_

_Foolishly, she had complied and the next time she opened them eyes, she was in the arms of her father._

A chakra enforced eraser impacted squarely on her forehead, leaving behind a nasty looking red welt and subsequently shocking her awake.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake now. Since you were sleeping, I suppose I should repeat myself, but I won't." Said Motoharu. "I'm sure that Shirou-sama will inform you, being as he was actually paying attention and that he's the only one you seem to talk to."

She groaned in feigned annoyance. It was true that Shirou was the only one that she often talked to, but that was not mainly due to her part but rather his. She did not know why he did so, or why it is that she doesn't find it as annoying as she makes it out to be, but her interactions with him had somehow affected her. They were trivial things such as him walking home with her or just his presence nearby, but it would no longer seem normal if he was not there with her.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" She whispered heatedly.

"I tried but it didn't work." Shirou said from his new position beside her after Motoharu had assigned a seat change last month.

"Why didn't you try punching me then? I'm sure that would have worked." She complained.

Shirou just gave her a blank look before simply shaking his head.

"Right. A hero of justice doesn't punch little girls." She looked at Shirou, watching as his face seemed to have twitched before straightening. "Now what was is it that I missed?"

Shirou explained that the class was to be tested on a field work exam next week and as such would be required to exit the protection of Uzushiogakure and into unfamiliar territory. The testing area would be safe however, since it was chosen by, and fortified by the most experienced of Uzu-nin. Those who pass may become Genin.

"Haven't you already done this before? You are already a Genin."

"No I have not. I was promoted through a different means." Shirou said secretively.

"I suppose you have, Clan Heads son, or should I say ~Chosen One."

Shirou scowled at her.

She had discovered this information not through her classmates like others would suspect, no; she had discovered it all by herself from the way people looked at Shirou and the constant gossip around her whenever she walked home with him.

Shirou was known as a hero; a hero who had saved not just one, but the lives of all he fought to protect during the battle against Kiri and Iwa. He was known as a prodigy who could mold and utilize chakra from age one, but most of all he had somehow wormed his way through her defenses and became her rather insistent friend; a friend that she would never admit to be a friend, but still a friend nonetheless.

Motoharu began the lesson which stopped the retort that was about to escape Shirou's mouth.

The bell rang, signifying the start of lunch and Shirou was dragged off again to help out with whatever task was asked of him. The guy just couldn't say no.

She got up and left towards the familiar tree that she would always frequent. The change in seasons had done the tree well, where before when its leaves had begun dropping in the fall, now they had re-grown into large vibrant leaves. And on the tree, inside its little knot were two boxed lunches waiting for her. A thankful smile appeared on her face.

She still had not discovered as to whom may be depositing the lunches for her, but she had always been thankful. So much so that she had saved what little earnings she had and bought a single jeweled pendant with the darkest hue of blue to show her appreciation. What she had not expected however was to come back the next day and discover that the pendant had been taken, but money of equal value to what she had spent had been left behind along with a note. The note had simply read:_ "Thank you. I'll treasure it always. Also you can keep the money; I have enough as it is."_

She had not known when her tears began welling up in her eyes, but she didn't care. The amount of compassion, self sacrifice, and care directed towards her by a mere stranger was just to much for her to take. Gratitude would not have been enough of a word to describe what she was feeling at that moment.

Smiling, she reached out and began eating the ready made lunch, savoring it till the last bite. With the addition of proper nutrients and her continued training, her body had changed considerably; where once she was considered to be too skinny, now she was considered fit and healthy.

The only thing that hadn't changed over the past few months was her mindset that she shouldn't trust anyone. In a way she greatly considered the promise foolish, but through her will and past experiences that proved otherwise, she had persevered through with it.

Finishing both of the lunches, she stood up and walked to the back of the academy where a training ground was located. She walked up to a bin of blunted kunai and began practicing her aim. Based on what Shirou had said, she had a week to train before she was to be tested.

Not wasting her time she began to throw kunai at a dummy around ten meters away; managing to hit it around sixty percent of the time. Her aim was not the best she had to admit, but that was why practice was needed. She threw another kunai and like before, missed her target.

_'Not good enough.'_ She picked up another kunai and proceeded to throw it in the same manor.

"You're holding the kunai wrong." Shirou said as he made his way towards her. He had just returned from fixing a compass a teacher was having trouble with. "Your index finger should be parallel to the spine of the kunai, not around its grip."

"Thank you." She said. Taking the advice for what it was.

"Do you still wish to spar with me at the orphanage after school?"

"Yes. The spars help with my training."

"Life isn't always about training you know."

"Life isn't always about doing what people ask of you either." She retorted.

"That's beside the point, and it's not like I would do something for someone that's bad."

She kept quite, her gaze locked onto the training dummy.

"What drives you to train so hard?"

_A house was burning in the distance as dark smoke clouds billowed in the wind._

Her knuckles became white as her grip on the kunai got tighter and tighter.

Shirou waited for an answer, but had received nothing. He sighed.

"You may not tell me now, but I can see that whatever it is that you train for troubles you." Shirou began walking away to give her some time for herself. "If you change your mind however, you can always trust in me to help with whatever it is that concerns you." He smiled before disappearing in a body flicker.

After a moment, she dropped the kunai; watching it clatter against the ground. _'It's not fair for you to say such kind words Shirou.'_ She thought with a troubled look on her face. _'How many times do you think that I wanted to reach out to you over the past few months? To trust in you; but failed to do so due to my own obligations? Too many to count.'_ She thought bitterly. She put away the kunai as the bell rang and headed back to class.

After the school day had finished, she began walking towards the orphanage as she tried to recall when it had become routine. She remembered that she had been walking home when a child bumped into her; dropping the groceries that he was carrying. Feeling guilty, she had helped the child pick up the groceries from the ground, but discovered that the bag that had held the groceries was torn. Taking the initiative, she had offered up her only bag to hold the groceries.

Like a light bulb had lit up above her, she remembered what had happened. The child had thanked her before realizing that he was taking her only bag. He looked sheepishly at her before asking if she would accompany him back to his home. She had agreed of course, and low and behold, she ended being lead straight into the orphanage.

The interior of the orphanage was far from luxurious, but it had a homely feel to it that reminded her too much of her original home. She bore with the feelings of loneliness that began to seep its way passed the mental barricades she had locked them away in as she retrieved her bag from the child; its contents already emptied.

Hastily, she had made her way out through the nearest door located seven meters to her left. Upon exiting, she stumbled into a crowd of kids that were directly in front of the door. All there attention was drawn towards a person at the front. From where she was, she could barely make out the person. Curiously, she made her way until she had a perfect view of Shirou Uzumaki.

His punches were a blur, and his kicks a storm as he sparred with a clone of himself. Every punch was parried, and every kick was nullified as they traded blows. Finally, when it seemed as if the spar would continue for another hour or so, they stopped; their stares looking directly passed her and towards a woman who was steadily approaching.

"Yes, Tsuki-san? Is there something you need" The Shirou's echoed as Tsuki walked up to them before one poofed out of existence.

Tsuki laughed. "As mature as ever I see." She ruffled Shirou's hair before she released a large bag from a scroll. "I just brought the items you requested the other day."

"You have my thanks Tsuki-san." Shirou said as he took the bag from Tsuki.

"Anytime Shirou, but don't forget to get home before noon this time; you know how your mother gets." Tsuki said before she left.

She watched confusedly as a shiver ran up and down Shirou's spine before he shook it off. He opened the bag in his hands and produced toy after toy; spreading much joy to the kids around her as he began handing them out.

Upon reaching her however, Shirou momentarily froze before he smiled kindly at her and produced a blue hair ribbon in which he placed in her hands. By the time she got her thoughts in order to refuse the ribbon, Shirou had already moved on to the next child. Hesitantly she placed the ribbon in her pocket; watching as Shirou gave away the last of the contents within the bag.

The caretaker arrived not soon later and informed all the children to put away their gifts; leaving her alone with Shirou.

"Where did you learn to fight so well?" She asked him.

"From my father and past experiences." Shirou responded as he loosened his shoulders to relax his arms.

She felt a dagger like pain sheer through her heart. Her father had also been the one to teach her taijutsu when she was younger. She remembered the way he had smiled at her whenever she landed a blow on him, and the way he would correct her mistakes. The feeling of loneliness she kept locked away underneath her mental barriers that were already fragile from earlier broke under the weight of her pain.

She stood quite, head facing the ground as Shirou stared curiously at her.

"...me." She said lowly.

"What?" Shirou asked.

"I said Fight Me!" She charged at him, hoping to block out her feelings by losing herself in battle.

Shirou ducked beneath her swing before she forced him to block a low front kick that was aimed towards his abdomen.

"Wait!" Shirou dodged a palm heel strike to his chin. "Why are," he maneuvered away from a grapple. "We fighti-"

"Shut Up!" She yelled as she faced him; revealing a trail of glistening tears.

Taken aback, Shirou stumbled on his footing; revealing an opening in his defenses that she exploited. Landing a square blow to Shirou's face, she sent him sprawling onto the ground. As she began to follow up, Shirou puffed into a cloud of smoke, revealing himself to be a clone.

"What's wrong?" Shirou asked from in front of her; a red spot blossoming on his right cheek. "Why are you crying?"

Instead of answering, she had only charged at Shirou again, but this time he was ready. Her attacks were parried one after another as Shirou steadily began forcing her back. She looked at him, watching closely as he yet again blocked her low kick before back-handing her right-straight that was aimed at his head.

_'Why?'_ She thought as Shirou redirected the force of her blow safely to the ground. _'Why does he not fight back?_ Shirou disappeared in a puff of smoke before appearing two meters away. _'Can't he see that I'm trying to hurt him? That I'm the one in the wrong?'_

She heedlessly charged in again, ignorant to the fact that a crowd had begun to form around them. She jumped, span in a circle, and kicked out with her lead leg; using her momentum to generate power.

Shirou bent over, watching closely as her leg swept over him before he blocked the follow-up kick thrown at him after she landed.

She grabbed him as he lowered his guard and prepared to deliver a punch to his gut.

Quickly, Shirou grabbed onto the arm that was holding him in place before he jumped back; displacing her center of balance and causing them to fall.

As they fell, Shirou positioned his knee on the center of her abdomen before rolling back and subsequently tossing her up into the air.

Her gut wrenched into itself as she began to sail head first onto the ground. Just as she was going to strike it, she shot both of her palms directly perpendicular to it; gaining leverage. As her momentum continued to push her forward, she pivoted on her left palm and using her right, pushed herself upright.

Pausing to assess her injuries, she found that she had none. Shirou had not harmed her in any way. She grit her teeth together before continuing her assault.

She yelled in frustration as Shirou yet again parried her blows, even the ones she was sure she should have landed. Not one to give up, she tried, tried, and tried again. By her sixth attempt she had exhausted herself to much; her breaths coming out in labored pants.

She narrowed her eyes at Shirou who looked no less for wear, aside from a few crinkles on his clothing.

The sun in the background was slowly setting, dying the sky in a vibrant orange. She wiped the sweat that had accumulated on her forehead and the left over tears that had dried over her face before standing tall.

She breathed in and out before closing and opening her eyes. _'One final time.'_ She thought. She began walking, and then slowly moved into a jog before full out sprinting towards Shirou who stood motionless across from her.

She struck first with her right hand, hoping to lower Shirou's guard enough so that her left hook would successfully land.

Unfortunately, Shirou grabbed her right hand with a firm grip followed by her left which he saw was aimed at his chest.

"This fight is over." Shirou said as he stared her in the eyes before letting go of her hands.

Her arms fell loosely by her sides.

"Why?" She whispered.

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you fight back? You had all the right to. It was my selfishness that started it."

Shirou placed a hand inside his yukata as he stared off into the sunset.

"You looked sad." Shirou finally said after turning his head back to face her. "And I-I, I just..."

She turned away from him.

"What's wrong?" Shirou asked as he moved to stand in front of her.

A fresh stream of tears was dripping down her face. _'Why is he so kind to me? An orphaned girl he just met a few months ago.'_ She began to wipe at her tears as she noticed that Shirou was staring.

Wordlessly, Shirou had wrapped her in a hug.

_'It's warm.'_ She thought as a memory of her father hugging her came to mind. Subconsciously, she wrapped her arms around him.

"It's alright to cry when you're sad." Shirou said as he gently rubbed her back. "I won't pry anymore, so cheer up."

"I was never sad; your face just irritated me." She said as she burrowed her face deeper onto Shirou's shoulder.

Shirou smiled at her before patting her on the head.

"Then I hope you come back tomorrow to beat away at this irritating face of mine."

She looked up at Shirou, her tears left soaked into his yukata and laughed; her mood shifting into a brighter one.

"I would be a fool to miss that." She said light heartedly.

A white flash suddenly ruined the moment.

"Your mother's going to love this Shirou." A white haired old man said from in front of the crowd that had gathered around them. In his left hand a freshly processed picture.

Looking towards the old man, but more specifically at the photo he held, she shrieked before shoving Shirou away. On closer inspection, she finally realized there was a crowd around her. Her face lit up like a strawberry from embarrassment before she fled from the scene.

Her face lit up to a reddish color as she thought about how that day had played out. Still though, it was thanks to that day that she had begun to frequent the orphanage. Walking faster, the orphanage gates appeared in sight.

* * *

><p>"You will spend the next three days alone in this forest. In those three days you're taijutsu, ninjutsu, and resistance against genjutsu will be tested-except for Shirou-sama. Pass and you become Genin. Fail and you're in for another year." Motoharu said as he eyed everyone. "Are there any questions before we begin?"<p>

"What's Shirou doing?" Reiko Yuki asked as she waved her hand around in the air. She was a pale skinned young girl with long black hair that was held up by a white head band tied around her forehead. As for attire, she wore a blue loose fitting vest with a form fitting t-shirt underneath as well as blue combat pants and fish-net stockings.

"Something more difficult." Motoharu said.

Her question answered, Reiko dropped her hand, yet the answer had left her unsatisfied.

"If there are no more questions then..." Everyone took a running stance in the direction of the forest. "GO!"

She shot off towards the forest by herself; Shirou having to stay behind. She should have considered forming a group like many of the others had done, but she didn't know anyone well enough to do so other than Shirou. Left unsaid was the fact that she felt uncomfortable about leaving her back to someone she didn't trust. At least with Shirou she had gotten to know him over the past few months, but the others...

Entering the forest, she knew that she would have to secure a source of water, shelter, and perhaps food to last the next three days.

Jumping up onto the tree tops, she shot off towards the direction where she recalled seeing a stream; the frail branches protruding from the trees she passed scratching at her skin. It had only taken about ten minutes before the sound of running water entered her ears.

She proceeded on, but something caught her eye. There glinting under the overhead sun's rays was a thin thread of transparent wire. It was neatly hidden across the gap of two tree branches; if not for the sun's light, something bad might have occurred. She took note not to travel by tree top when night falls and the day becomes dark.

Warily, she made her way to the ground; not risking the highroad. She strode carefully, keeping a careful eye on her surroundings; nothing of particular danger seemed to be around her.

A rustle in the bushes behind her immediately draws her attention, but it was only a squirrel. She took a breath to relive her of the tenseness that had steadily formed over her journey. Not wasting anymore time, she proceeded towards the stream.

On arrival, she saw that she was not the first to arrive. The girl, Reiko Yuki and another girl of similar appearance had beaten her to it.

Noticing her, Reiko smiled in her direction. She forced her own smile, but it didn't seem to bother Reiko or the other girl.

Awkwardly, she approached them, taking the time to determine whether or not she should leave.

"It seems I wasn't the only one who saw this stream. Reiko Yuki is the name." Reiko extended out her hand. "You?"

She stayed silent for a while before she introduced herself to Reiko; shaking her hand as she did so.

She stared at the final individual who had yet to introduce herself. The target of her gaze however, quickly turned her face away.

"Oh, sorry about my brother, he tends to be a bit shy." Reiko said as she began to fill up a bag with stream water.

_'That's a guy!'_ She thought as she looked at him more closely; watching as his long-glossy raven hair flowed along with the wind; as well as the pink tint on his cheeks that were visible due to his pale skin. _'Nonononono. However way you look at it that's definitely a girl.'_ She thought stubbornly.

"M-My name's H-Haru Yuki." Haru said as his sister stood beside him for encouragement.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Haruhi Yuki-san." She said while tilting her head towards Haru.

Haru hid behind his sister.

"I-It's Haru-"

"-hi." She insisted.

"B-But-"

"You're being too modest by shortening your name to sound more masculine. A woman shouldn't do that sort of thing." She said as she began to walk further upstream and away from the siblings; her inexperience with socializing with people getting the better of her.

Haru ran away into the forest with his hands over his face while quietly muttering "It happened again..."

"Wait!" Reiko called out to her brother, but she was too late. Haru had already run off into the forest. She turned to face her retreating back.

"That was a little mean don't you think?"

"I was only stating the truth."

"Somehow I can't deny that." Reiko said as she mentally compared herself with her brother. She sighed before deciding to voice her opinion on a certain subject.

"Why don't you form a group with us?" She asked.

Her walking pace began to slow down to a halt as she thought about it. There would be benefits to a group and she had already considered creating one with Shirou. Therefore it was a given that she agreed to join, but that didn't mean that she wasn't on edge in their presence.

They spent the day locating bramble and loose branches to create a shelter of sorts after finding Haru who was mopping by a tree. They didn't have much in terms of food, but they made due with the few berries they had scavenged during the day.

As day fell and night rose, smoke could be seen sifting through the high forest canopy over head.

A fire burned bright as she, Haru, and Reiko sat beside it. They had created it moments ago to keep warm. She kindled the flame by tossing in some tinder they foraged; increasing its height and warmth.

No one was talking. Perhaps it was her fault. She was the outsider that had been invited to the group, but had little to offer in terms of socializing. She got up and stepped into the stream, not enjoying the silence at the fire. Steadily she formed a hand seal and concentrated on the water.

The water around her twisted and twirled in frenzy; the white water droplets pelting against her skin as she let out low even breaths. With each breath the water became less and less chaotic; now moving in simple spires that swished back and forth. With considerable effort, she stared at a nearby tree and willed the water to her command. Almost instantly, the spires collapsed. She'd failed again.

"Wow." Reiko and Haru said as they stared at her.

"What jutsu was that?" Reiko asked curiously.

"It has no name. It's just something I've been working on."

"That's so cool! I've only just started learning water jutsu's."

"Thank you." She said.

Reiko ran up to her while Haru stayed behind.

"Hey! Let's train together sometime." Reiko said.

She shrugged her shoulders, but didn't disagree. It was after watching her train for another half hour that Reiko joined in, followed by a reluctant Haru.

The air around her suddenly became cold as she stood next to both of them training. She shivered slightly as Haru took notice and meekly apologized for the drop in temperature. It was an effect of their bloodline, the Ice Release he explained.

Her eyes widened as she realized that she was in the presence of fellow bloodline users. Her motivation to train suddenly faded away as she slunk back towards the fire.

Unexpectedly, Reiko and Haru followed along wondering what was wrong.

The sound of a twig snapping was masked by the crackle of the fire. They sat in silence for a few moments before she spoke out.

"You were hunted too." She stated rather than asked.

The faces of Reiko and Haru drastically paled as even their lips trembled. Reiko who was the most energetic of the group suddenly became as meek as her brother.

"Yes." Reiko answered as Haru remained silently looking towards the ground. "Both night and day; there was nowhere that was safe. I suppose it was the same for you?"

She solemnly nodded her head.

"Our families were hunted like dogs, like pests that brought about plague." Reiko said.

"But we had done no wrong!" Haru suddenly shouted as tears streamed down his face. Reiko patted his back to comfort him.

"To us we had done no wrong, but to them our very existence was what was wrong. To them we were demons, monsters in the guise of man." She said.

The air around them became heavy with sorrow. They all had similar experiences. They all had seen loved ones die in front of them. But most of all, they all understood each others pain.

She turned towards the direction of the forest.

"You can come out now Shirou. I know that your there." She said.

Shirou stepped forward from behind a tree.

"I didn't mean to intrude, but I couldn't find an opportunity to join." He said awkwardly as he made his way towards them. "I'm also sorry for eavesdropping."

Reiko's eyes widened as she stared at Shirou while Haru looked on in admiration.

"I-It's fine Shirou, what's done is done." Reiko said as she turned away. "I-I couldn't possibly be mad at the one who saved us all."

"Saved us all?" She inquired.

"Weren't you there when Shirou granted entree to Uzu. Even at a young age Shirou was already a good person." Reiko said giddily. "He was like: 'Let them in' and 'I will deal with the consequences'."

Shirou turned away as his cheeks lit up in embarrassment.

Meanwhile, she just stared at Shirou in open shock; fully realizing the extent of what Shirou had done.

After pleasantries were exchanged, they all went off to sleep for the night.

The next morning, she woke up to the familiar scent of cooking fish. Shirou was up early making breakfast with the fish that he had somehow caught from the stream. He had three skewered and set up to cook by the fire.

It appears that she was not the only one to wake up as Reiko sat up and began to rub the sleep from her eyes.

Reiko looked towards Shirou and blinked a few times.

"Mama, I must still be dreaming; Shirou's cooking for me." Reiko mumbled before falling back asleep on top of her brother's stomach.

She felt her eyebrow twitch for a moment, but didn't know why. She stood up and approached Shirou.

"Good morning." Shirou said as he tended to the fire and seasoned the fish.

"Good morning." She replied back before sitting next to the fire.

"Was it true? About last night?" Shirou asked.

She only nodded her head as she tucked her knees in.

"Times were horrible and many died." She finally said as she clenched her hands into fists. "My family included."

There was a sharp change that occurred in Shirou's eyes, but she had not seen it.

She looked faintly at the running water of the stream.

_"Die demon! Your kind killed my father!" A boy and his friends tossed stones at her even as she continued to yell at them to stop. She ran and they followed, until they had cornered her at a stream. The rocks stung as they smacked against her body; causing her to bruise and bleed out._

"All we could do was run as we were relentlessly pursued."

_Her brother came to her rescue, but they were forced to run as Kiri-nin suddenly surrounded them._

"My brother, father, mother, and those close to me died protecting me." She laughed without any humor. "I'm all that's left."

She did not know why she was sharing her past, or why she did not feel any guilt in doing so.

"And in the end I had learned to watch my back and live through the toughest of times. But most of all, I learned to trust no one."

Shirou placed a strong hand on her shoulder before making her face him.

"You can't live without being able to trust in others." Shirou said seriously. "That's not living."

She brushed his hand off.

"And I suppose that you would know." She walked away before Shirou could reply.

She returned half an hour later to the sight of Reiko and Haru happily eating their breakfast while Shirou could be seen standing on the river.

Shirou thrust an arm into the river and produced another fish to cook.

Reiko and Haru praised his skill as Shirou walked back with more fish in hand.

As she drew closer to them, Shirou dropped the fish, walked up to her and bowed.

"I'm sorry for earlier." He said.

"It's fine." She said as she took a seat next to the fire and bit into a freshly cooked fish. It was surprisingly good.

Shirou picked up the fish he had dropped and sat across from her.

"So what now?" Reiko asked after that they had all finished eating.

"We endure for two more days." Shirou said as he stood up.

"I thought Motoharu-sensei said that you were doing something different." She stated.

"I am." Shirou lifted up his right sleeve revealing a blue pulsating seal. "My chakra has been sealed to that of a civilian for the duration of the exam."

"But that would be impossible!" Reiko shouted to convey her feelings on the subject. "How can you pass with so little chakra?"

Shirou just shrugged his shoulders; it's not like chakra was all that he was capable of using.

She got up from her position next to the campfire and began to think. Suddenly Shirou tossed a kunai into a bush fifteen meters to her left; drawing her, Reiko's, and Haru's attention.

A foot peaked out from behind the bush before a leg followed.

_'No! NO! It can't be!'_ She thought as she stared into the scarred left eye of the man who had lead a unit of shinobi to kill her family. She took a step back followed by another before she fell on her but.

She sought out Shirou, Reiko, or Haru as reassurance, but found that they were no longer there; she was all alone.

As the scarred Kiri-nin fully emerged from behind the bush, she noticed that he was dragging a very familiar body along with him.

"Brother!" She yelled out.

The Kiri-nin smiled before tossing the mangled corpse in front of her.

She quickly scrambled over to her brother's body, tripping and falling a few times on the way. Upon reaching the body, she reeled back in shock as tears dropped out from her eyes and into the ground. Numerous wounds were littered across his body, from large gashes, gauges, and bruises to various degrees of burns and minor cuts. Cruelest of all was the smile forced onto his face; it unnerved her.

"Do you see? That is what you demon's deserve!" The Kiri-nin laughed out while drawing out a kunai. "And it's we; the pure blood's who will deliver your just deserts." He charged at her.

_'What is this? This feeling of utter contempt boiling within me?'_ She thought as she stared blankly at the approaching Kiri-nin. She looked down at her brother and the feeling intensified further. _'Ah. So that's it, anger; anger at the world that took me away from my family; anger at this man who so brazenly laughed as he talked about killing people.'_ She didn't care anymore. She took hold of the anger within her and let it take control; all in her way would burn within the fiery depths of her fury.

Her hands formed seals that she had never learned before and stopped at the bird seal.

"Lava Release: Melting Apparition Technique!" She spat out globs of heated magma at the Kiri-nin, but his experience had helped him dodge each one. Instinctively, she knew that the Kiri-nin had the advantage in close quarters combat. She would not let him get close.

She tilted her head back before spewing forth a large quantity of magma from her mouth that spread out into a broad thin sheet as it traveled through the air.

The Kiri-nins eyes widened as he realized that he couldn't avoid the attack. Accepting his defeat, the Kiri-nin tossed his kunai at her in a last ditch effort to kill her, but it caught in the flow of magma coming from her mouth.

The Kiri-nin swore as the magma swallowed him within its smoldering embrace. It was the last she heard of him before steam from the cooling magma covered the area.

Within the steam she saw the form of a burnt body and charged at it; kunai in hand in case the Kiri-nin was still alive.

A shadow suddenly intercepts and she lashes out at it, stabbing it through the chest. The momentum of her thrust sent them both tumbling onto the burnt body she had been running towards.

The steam suddenly cleared as a cold wind blew it away. Her eyes widened in abject shock and horror.

"Why?" Her parents choked out as they steadily began to die due to the injuries she had inflicted upon them. The shadow she had stabbed she realized, was her mother; while the seriously burned man was her father.

"N-No! I-I didn't m-mean to!" She fell on her knees and took hold of her parent's hands.

"Why...Why...d..id...you...k...i..ll...us...ou..r...d..ear..est...Mei?" Her parent's asked as their weary eyes closed for the final time.

_'It was my fault! It was all my fault!'_ She moved her hands to caress her mother and father's faces; to feel the warmth that their presence had always brought to her, but instead the warmth had been replaced by a cold chill that sapped away at her strength.

_'I don't deserve this life.'_ She thought as she stared at a kunai peaking out of her shinobi pouch. Hesitantly, she reached towards it, but her hands refused to grasp around it as an image of a sad looking Shirou continually crossed her mind.

Giving up, she brought her hands to her face and screamed in self loathing.

* * *

><p>Confusion was the first thought that entered his mind as he watched Mei suddenly collapse from some sort of shock. He looked towards the squirrel that had jumped out of the bush he had thrown a kunai at. Could there be a connection? Before he could look further into it, the squirrel clambered off towards the nearest tree.<p>

He approached Mei in concern for her, but she had only fallen on her but before looking around in desperation. All of a sudden she stopped and looked at him with a sad, almost grief stricken look.

"Brother!" Mei yelled out, before she crawled over to the luggage they had brought for the exam.

"What's going on?" Reiko asked worriedly from her half standing position by the camp fire; Haru in the same position.

"I think it's a genjutsu based on the way she's acting." He said. "We have to break her out, but that means getting in close to disrupt her flow of chakra."

"T-Then w-what are w-we waiting f-for?" Haru asked as he stared concernedly at Mei.

"You're right. Let's break her out." Reiko said as she began to run up to Mei.

Mei stared blankly at the approaching Reiko before her hands swiftly began forming seals.

His eyes widened before he shot off into action.

"Lava Release: Melting Apparition Technique!"

Mei spat out globs of molten lava from her mouth that Reiko didn't expect and as such could not react in time. Luckily, he had realized what was going on and had run close enough to Reiko to drag her out of the way.

"T-Thank you." Reiko said in relief after they tumbled over the ground and came to a stop.

"It's not over yet. Hold on tight."

Reiko stared confusedly at him before she felt heat pass from over head. She looked at the endpoint and saw another glob of lava.

Understandingly, Reiko held him tightly, wrapping her arms over his chest as a faint blush formed over her cheeks.

They dodged numerous globs of lava launched in their direction as they proceeded closer and closer to Mei. At some point, he had dropped Reiko safely off to the side with her brother. It would only be after the exam that Reiko would remember that he had done what he did with his chakra restricted.

"Mei! Get a hold of yourself!" He yelled out in vain as more and more globs of lava were shot at him.

Finally, when it appeared that he was close enough to reach her with one more reinforced leap, she spat out a huge quantity of lava that blanketed the air above him.

"Damn!" He yelled as a gun loaded itself to be fired from within his mind. It seemed however that his preparation was for not as a thick wall of ice had enshrouded him; shielding him from the brunt of the lava.

The area became covered with steam, severely limiting visibility. As he was close enough to Mei, he saw her charge off into the steam.

Gradually, the steam cleared; the rest of it being blown away by the wind that had been produced as the heat from the lava lifted higher into the air causing a draft.

Suddenly Mei screamed out from her position fifteen meters away. Though worried, he took the chance to approach her and send what little chakra he had access to into her chakra system to disrupt its flow.

The effects were near instant as Mei noticed him standing beside her. She looked blankly at him, the tears over her face glistening from the suns rays. Her lips trembled before she jumped on him; clinging herself around him and causing them to fall over.

"It's my fault. It's all my fault." She said as she cried over him; her tears staining the fabric of his blue yukata.

"It's no ones fault Mei. What you saw was only an illusion created through a genjutsu."

He tucked her head onto his shoulder and let her cry herself out.

Reiko and Haru stood uncertainly off to the side, not knowing what to do in the situation.

When Mei's tears eventually stopped, she removed herself from him and stood up.

"Thank you," Mei said. "I appreciate it."

He got up from the ground and together they returned to Reiko and Haru who had decided to wait by the fire.

* * *

><p>She walked alongside Shirou, uncertain with herself and still in a state of emotional turmoil. He had been there for her again and again, but this time it was different. He came when she believed that all was lost, that her life had no meaning. He was there to look out for her in the genjutsu even when he wasn't really there physically.<p>

The only thing that kept repeating in her mind was 'He was there'. It confused her; causing her to seriously question whether or not her mother was in the right to make her promise not to trust in others.

She thought back of to the times in Kirigakure when a vendor had willingly given her food. Back then she was naive and had eaten the food without questioning the motives of the vendor; a mistake she learned never to make again as she had suffered from heavy poisoning. The memory had only further reinforced the promise she made with her mother.

On the other hand she thought about her meetings with Shirou. She was always skeptical of him whenever he approached, or decided to interact with her; always questioning his motives, his true aim by being around her, but she had discovered no such motives. She remembered when he had offered her food; how she had refused him near instantly, the smile on his face eerily similar to that of the vendor in Kiri. He didn't look offended however and had simply put the food away; it was the last time he offered her food, yet he still came to keep her company. He was always considerate with her, never doing anything that would inconvenience her, or making sure to give her her space when she needed it.

As more and more memories of her time with Shirou flooded into her mind, more and more of the mental chains that locked away her ability to trust in others withered or broke apart. As the last chains broke apart, one still held strong; her promise to her mother.

She mentally clasped at it, but could not find the strength to tear it up; to turn her back on her mother's final wish.

"Mei, are you alright?" Shirou asked as Reiko and Haru ran up to meet them. "You have a troubled look on your face."

"I'm fine Shirou." She said as she forced a smile.

Shirou let the matter drop even though she could tell from his face that he didn't fully believe it. When Reiko and Haru arrived by their sides, they began questioning her if she was alright and she replied in the same manor.

They all sat back down around the fire so that she could rest and they could discuss what happened. During this time, she was told that what had come out of the bush had only been a squirrel. Her eyes widened as she thought about the squirrel she had encountered before arriving by the stream. Before long, she suddenly realized something.

"It was the squirrel." She said as she looked at everyone present.

"W-What?" Haru asked confused.

"The squirrel. I had met with one before arriving here."

"I had a feeling it was the squirrel." Shirou said. "I knew I felt chakra being used in that direction."

"I think," Reiko began as she looked at them seriously. "We have to survive from that squirrel."

Silence. The statement was so ludicrous that no one had anything to refute it with. In the end however, it was decided that it could very well be true.

At the noon of the final day there was still no sign of any sort of squirrel, but they had still decided to keep watch for any movement in the woods. It was also at this time that Shirou completed drawing seals on sealing paper before giving them out to everyone.

"What's this for?" She asked as she inspected it.

"It's a chakra storage seal that's meant to disrupt chakra flow in case the user is caught in a genjutsu." Shirou explained as he got the attention of the group. "Simply store your chakra within it and the seal will activate and send an in-flow of chakra within you."

_'Very handy'_ She thought.

"Now then, be ready for anything; I sense a chakra signature approaching from the east." Shirou said as he faced the specified direction.

A squirrel popped out from behind a tree, followed by another, then another, and another. There was a literal army of squirrels, their beady eyes all staring focused on them.

"Uhm, I thought it was only one." Reiko said nervously.

"Expect the unexpected, thus is the life of a shinobi." Shirou quoted from somehwhere.

The squirrels attacked, some going air born from the tops of trees, others scurrying over the ground.

"Mei, are you able to perform those lava attacks?" Shirou questioned.

"N-No." She replied hesitantly. She had only done so through her anger.

"I see." Shirou said before he yelled out for them to get into manji formation. It would help to ward off attacks coming from different angles.

The squirrels were on them in a wave of fur. Some bit onto their clothing as others managed to nip at their skin, but the damage wasn't to substantial.

She lashed out with her kunai, cutting into several squirrels at once, only for them to crumble into a pile of dust.

"They're earth clones!" She yelled.

Shirou, Reiko, and Haku nodded their heads to her warning. As they fought on, the sheer number of squirrels nearly over whelmed them, but Reiko and Haru had erected a circular wall of ice around them to temporarily stop the onslaught.

"Are you guys alright?" Shirou asked.

"I'm good." She replied.

"I'm sick of squirrels." Reiko said.

"F-Fine." Haru said.

All of them, no matter how confident their replies sounded were getting worn out. Suddenly through the ice, she noticed one squirrel standing still.

"There!" She yelled. "That squirrel is definitely the real one!"

The others looked at the squirrel as well and agreed with her reasoning. Suddenly, the squirrel began making hand seals that shot a bolder at them. Trapped within the very ice they created, they could not move.

"Everyone, I need you to trust me." Shirou said seriously. "Please close your eyes."

Reiko and Haru did just that, while she remained troubled on what to do. She tried to close her eyes, but doubt plagued her mind, causing her to open them just as a pair of the purest black and white swords materialized within Shirou's grasp. He threw them in opposite directions and they effortlessly cut through the ice before converging directly on the oncoming boulder; splitting it directly in half before they faded.

"W-What." She said as Reiko and Haru opened their eyes.

Shirou took notice that she had not closed her eyes, but said nothing as he disappointingly turned his gaze away; causing a feeling of guilt to manifest within her. She shoved it away for now and focused on the battle.

Seeing that it wasn't safe within the ice, Reiko and Haru took it down and almost instantly the squirrels were on them again. As they were next to a stream she shot off a water jutsu at the oncoming squirrels, washing away the ones nearest to them.

Suddenly, the squirrels retreated back, giving them some much needed breathing room.

With a puff, the squirrel they had been focusing on turned into Motoharu-sensei. The rest of the squirrels soon turned into dust.

"I'm impressed," Motoharu said. "For you to have lasted this long." He looked towards the sky, watching as the sun steadily began to set. "I should congratulate you,"

He approached them as they dropped their guards. A fatal mistake as she had been whisked away and pinned under Motoharu's knee.

"But the exam is yet to finish." He said coldly. His knee pressed harder on her back, eliminating her chances of escape.

"But that's-" Shirou cut Reiko off, complaining would do nothing in this situation.

"What do you want?" Shirou asked.

Motoharu removed a kunai from his shinobi pouch and placed it under her neck.

"Shirou-sama, I want you to kill Haru or Mei dies."

"You can't do that!" Reiko yelled as she stood defensively in front of Haru while she stared at Motoharu.

"This is what it means to have a life as a shinobi." Motoharu said as he touched the kunai to her throat. "Now do it." Motoharu tossed a spare kunai at Shirou's feet.

Shirou picked it up and turned towards Reiko and Haru. Reiko's eyes widened as Shirou began walking closer to them.

"S-Stop!" Reiko yelled. "Y-You can't!"

Shirou raised the kunai up before swiftly throwing it to the ground.

"No." He said resolutely.

"Then Mei will die. You don't have the right to refuse."

She watched helplessly from her position pinned under Motoharu's knee, realizing that her life may very well end here. In this situation, there was nothing they could possible do without either her or Haru dying.

Believing that she was going to die anyway, she tore the final chain locking away her trust in order to die knowing that she had finally placed her trust with Shirou; the boy that she had come to realize deserved it the most.

"I have a better option," Shirou said. "Take me instead."

She stared in disbelief that Shirou would willingly give his life for her. She felt the tears forming within her eyes, but forced them away.

"That's very appealing, but how do I know that you don't have a hidden weapon on you?"

Instead of replying, Shirou tossed all of his valuables and items over to Motoharu. Of those valuables one stood out the most to her, a single jeweled pendant with the deepest hue of blue.

The tears that she had been holding back, suddenly burst forth. _'It was him all along. I should have known.'_ She had always wondered why he no longer offered her food after the first time he had attempted to give her some. He had always been there, watching out for her. _'I was such a fool.'_ She thought as she mentally berated herself. _'He did not deserve my distrust, yet he had never been deterred by it.'_

"As you wish Shirou-sama." The weight on her back suddenly disappeared before she instantly stood up.

Looking towards where Shirou had been, she found that he was now pinned in the same manor as she had been.

"Mei, kill Haru or Shirou-sama dies." Motoharu said.

She was conflicted on what to do. Her mind told her that saving Shirou was priority, but she did not want to do so by taking away Haru's life. Hesitantly, she picked up the kunai that Shirou had thrown to the ground, but promptly dropped it. From where she stood, she could fully see both Reiko and Haru, and Shirou and Motoharu clearly.

"If that is your decision. Then Shirou-sama shall die."

"What makes you think your still in control of the situation?" Shirou said as a dagger formed behind Motoharu's head. She could see it from where she stood, but Reiko and Haru had no chance of seeing it.

"How foolish of me." Motoharu said. "I forgot to take into account the weapons that I could not see." Motoharu stood up while letting Shirou go; the blade floating behind his head fading away.

Motoharu stared at all of them before his cold demeanor was replaced by his normal one.

"You all pass."

Motoharu turned towards Haru and Reiko. "You both have shown skill with your ninjutsu; not so much with taijutsu or genjutsu, but what mattered most was your ability to co-operate." He tossed them both an Uzu head band before facing her.

"You have shown considerable skill in your ninjutsu and taijutsu, but failed when it came to genjutsu. Most significantly you could not trust in your comrades to the point I had considered failing you." She turned her face away in shame. "But you proved yourself in the end." He tossed her a head band.

"Finally, Shirou-sama. You have shown your ability to assess the situation and efficiently guide your comrades to maximize their chances at survival. You have proven that even with your limited chakra that you are still able to perform. It is my honor as an instructor to appoint you as a Chunin." He tossed Shirou the Chunin vest. "Wear it with pride."

She placed her head band around her neck as Motoharu lead them out of the forest and towards the rest of the class. On arrival, Reiko dragged Haru towards a circle of their friends; leaving her alone with Shirou as Motoharu had left to organize the other students.

She decided to ask a question.

"Hey Shirou." Shirou looked at her curiously. "Why would you hide your powers?"

"For the sake of my safety as said by my mother, father, and grandfather." He replied.

Her first question answered, she fell silent for a moment to gather up the courage to ask about what was really on her mind.

"Will you be my friend?" She asked tensely, unsure to how he would respond.

Shirou smiled at her, causing her tenseness to fade.

"Haven't I always been?"

She smiled at him.

"There is one thing I want you to promise though." Shirou said as he began to walk off.

"What?"

"Promise me that you'll begin to trust in others again." Shirou said as he turned his face around to meet her gaze.

She continued to smile, she had already made her decision.

"I promise." She said as ran up to walk beside Shirou.

Unbeknownst to her, she had inadvertently fulfilled her mothers final words.

_"Remember, don't trust anyone." Her mother said as she carefully placed her in the wagon before backing off a bit and staring her in the eyes. "There will be a day however that I know that you will break this promise and learn to trust people again. And when that day comes, I will be the happiest mother in the world." Her mother rubbed away at the tears on her face. "But it better be for a hot guy!"_

* * *

><p>For those concerned about my reasoning for age on last chapter:<p>

This is my reasoning.

Minato/Kushina die at 24  
>Presently KushinaMinato is 13  
>Shirou is 4<br>Kakashi is around 2 or 3

Minato graduated from the academy at age 10  
>Kakashi at age 5<p>

This means that Kakashi is already fairly mature for his age since he graduates at 5. He is apprenticed to Minato around the time he becomes Chunin at 6

This means that Kakashi would be 6 and Minato would be 17, which should fit based on the anime and manga.  
>Or am I wrong.<p>

About this chapter:

I spent most of my time on this chapter working on Mei's character because her personality shouldn't be exactly like how it is in the anime and manga when she's thirty. I wrote this so that her personality can develop to how it is in the anime and manga.

I found this chapter hard to write, but I believe I have somehow pulled it off. Still though I found it a bit boring so I hope to write something more entertaining next time around.

There will be a time skip next chapter.

And again: **Special thanks to souvikkundu0017 for providing me with the information necessary to write this story.**


	8. The Calm Before a Storm

The flutter of wings, a movement in the distant horizon. A dot, no smaller than a spec in the distance rapidly enlarged as it approached. His instincts scream for him to move, yet he forces them down and focuses his mind's eye on the matter at hand.

_'Ten meters; no, probably less.'_ The narrowing of his eyes had been the only indication of his actions before he tilted his head to the side, spun around, and grabbed the flying object with his trailing arm before tossing it due-west towards where it came from.

A shriek resulted in his actions and he sighed in feigned exasperation.

"Haru." He said. "When you had asked me to help you train your stealth I didn't think it would be this bad."

Haru laughed nervously as he stared at a the kunai that had just barely missed his face.

"Well, we still have time before we are sent out on missions so we can still work this out." He said as he appeared by Haru. "The world of shinobi is a dangerous place and I'll be damned if I let a friend die."

He began taking out kunai after kunai from a storage seal; making sure to test the weight and balance before including it in the forming pile.

Haru began slinking away, using his control over ice to dampen the noise produced by his steps. Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed him by the back of his shirt before dragging him back to where he started.

"Where do you think you're going?" Reiko said as she made Haru face her. "Do you want to die on the battle field?"

"N-No, but..." Haru looked at him.

He stared back, puzzled as to why Haru would stare at him of all people. The pile of kunai around him were of high quality; easily able to penetrate through toughest of materials. They shined ominously in the light of the day.

Reiko too, followed the direction of Haru's gaze before flinching.

"~Sister save me~" Haru whined.

"Oh, good timing Reiko. Would you like to join us?" He asked.

Reiko remained silently looking between him and Haru as if attempting to make a decision. For a moment Haru's face brightened up as Reiko slunk an arm around his shoulder, but it quickly turned to horror as Reiko whispered something into his ear.

"Sorry Shirou, but I gotta go." Reiko disappeared in a body flicker, leaving Haru behind.

He stared at Haru.

"Well then, let's resume Haru." He said.

Haru's face paled considerably as the color drained from his face.

* * *

><p>"What is your decision Toma?" Hideki asked as he narrowed his eyes on a letter that had come from a carrier pigeon.<p>

Toma had his elbows placed on his desk as he leaned his face on his hands.

"This is a delicate matter. The second Shinobi World War is over, but village national powers are declining and a third war is imminent in our future; regardless of how the second war ended." Toma said as he sighed exhaustively. "We must maintain ties with Konoha; we will be a prime target of hate in the next war."

Hideki nodded his head to Toma's reasoning.

"Precisely. With the decline of village national power, Uzu will become a target of the third war." Hideki walked over to a shelf of scrolls and grabbed one that had a map of the elemental nations and its borders before setting it up in front of Toma. "During the course of the bloody second war that was fought for such a petty reason as increased land borders, the other nations have failed to see its damages; loss in economy and population the most harmful." Hideki directed his gaze towards Uzu on the map. "We however, have been-"

"-Growing ever stronger in national power and economy due to our pacifistic like stance regardless if we aide Konoha in a few major battles" Toma cut in.

Hideki solemnly nodded his head in the affirmative before looking at Toma seriously.

"Kiri will eventually attack again. Our relations have been heavily strained ever since Shirou decided by himself to allow the bloodline users entree into Uzu." Hideki thoughtfully fiddled with his beard as he closed his eyes in thought before opening them again. "But then again, I highly doubt you would have turned them away either. That's just the kind of man you are..."

Toma remained silent as Hideki began to go off on a tangent and away from the matter at hand.

"So I ask you again Toma. Will Uzu participate in the next war with Konoha to continue our relations? What is your decision?" Hideki suddenly said; catching Toma by surprise as he had begun to unintentionally filter Hideki out.

"But at what price?" Toma said after thoroughly hiding his slip in composure.

Hideki hesitated, his posture rigid and his brows furrowing in displeasure.

"Is Shizuka here?" Hideki asked as he inspected the room.

"No. She's out training with Shirou, Haru, Mei, and Reiko." Toma said as he stared curiously at Hideki.

Hideki un-tensed his shoulders, but his displeasure was still evident by his furrowed brows.

"Konoha, they had initially requested for the use of Lifesaver during the duration of the second war and would have probably requested it again in the next predicted war, but we refused to give it up. As a result..."

"Spit it out Hideki-san. Withholding information is not something we can do at this point."

"...They want Shirou."

Toma's eyes widened as the cup of tea he had been drinking from, fell and shattered into fragments on the floor.

* * *

><p>Shizuka smiled even as she shattered the platter in her hands.<p>

"No fucking way Toma. Konoha can go to hell."

"You do know that Kushina currently lives there even though Mito-sama has already passed away?" Hideki said as he stood behind Toma, watching Shizuka's reaction carefully.

A look of realization appeared on Shizuka's face before it morphed into one of action.

"Then we take Kushina back!" Shizuka yelled as she stood up on her feet from the recliner that she was sitting on and walked up to Toma expectantly.

"This is why I judged your capabilities as a leader to be highly insufficient." Hideki drawled out before shutting up as Shizuka stared lividly at him.

"It was your fault that she's there in the first place!"

"It was a request from Mito-sama."

Shizuka shoved Toma away and grabbed onto Hideki's collar; pulling him closer to her face.

"Family should have come first!"

"And risk the downfall of our decades long alliance with Konoha?" Hideki said calmly as he pried Shizuka's grip off his collar. "It was the life of a child over the prosperity of the village as a whole."

"But it was my child! My baby!" Shizuka argued back heatedly as she gestured towards herself with her hands. "I should have never agreed to such a thing!" Shizuka began pacing back and forth before facing Hideki again with a hard gaze. "Did you not see her face as she left the village, her home?"

Hideki's face morphed into one of guilt as he began to remember.

"She's hurting inside grandpa, yet she just doesn't show it, voice it even!" Toma reached out to console Shizuka, but Shizuka would have none of it. "Do you know how much it hurt me to see my own daughter like that? It hurt so bad, right here." Shizuka placed a hand to her heart. "And I didn't know what to do. If it weren't for you, I probably would have dragged her back into the village."

Hideki agreed with what Shizuka had to say, but he also knew that emotions had no place in decision making. It was for this reason that he was about to say something that he knew would make him feel like an asshole.

"It had to be done." Hideki said as he carefully blanked his face.

Shizuka stood frozen in shock as what Hideki had said began registering in her brain.

Toma moved swiftly as he detected the brewing storm and intercepted it before it could bring about chaos.

"Shizuka." Toma said.

Shizuka looked at Toma, her face blank, masking all of her rage behind it.

"Family shouldn't fight with family." Toma said seriously as Shizuka turned her face away.

Toma looked towards Hideki with a stern gaze. If Shizuka is the more vocal of the two, then he was the one who suppressed it all within himself. He may not show it, but he too had been affected on the day that Kushina left.

"You should be more considerate." Toma said to Hideki who, like Shizuka turned his face away.

"If we are done arguing, than I propose an idea." Toma said as he drew the attention of Shizuka and Hideki.

* * *

><p>Shirou traveled in a group of five, consisting of him, his teammates, Mei, Reiko, and Haru, and his mother, Shizuka. They were on a mission to Konaha. For what purpose, he did not know.<p>

The scenery around him transitioned from open fields and meadows into thick forests with trees multitudes taller than an average tree of his world.

He turned to his mother who was the leader of the group. Ever since the field exam two years ago, she has been their unit's leader. It had been a genuine surprise for him at first, but he should have expected it from the way she acted when he returned home on the day of said field exam.

"Alright team, remember what Toma said." Shizuka said as she turned to face all of them. "Act prim, act proper, and most importantly, punch the damn Hokage's face!"

Mei sweat dropped from behind him as she put up a strained smile.

"That's sound's a bit different from what I remember." Mei said.

"Yeah, I think so too." Reiko followed up.

"Toma-sama said to represent Uzu." Haru said without a single tremble in his voice; probably due to him being comfortable around present company.

"He said no such thing!" Shizuka denied.

He found the situation oddly amusing as he cracked a smile onto his face. Mei, Reiko, and Haru, did not know his mother well enough to get accustomed to her habits.

They broke past the tree line and a large gate with the symbol of the leaf greeted them. Landing on the ground, they proceeded towards the entrance and into Konoha after getting past gate security.

* * *

><p>On another note, a blond haired women approached Uzu's gates at around the same time the team Shizuka was leading entered Konoha. This woman's name is Tsunade Senju. She is kunoichi, a war hero, and most importantly a Sanin; one of the three shinobi granted the title by Hanzo of the salamander.<p>

Her steps were firm, her gait strong, yet her face showed her true emotions; trepidation and anxiety. There was something that she had to confirm. Something that she needed to witness by her own eyes to believe.

Lifesaver, the sword of supreme healing; able to heal all.

Her need to witness such a sword had been enough to temporarily remove her from the active shinobi roster; as precious of a kunoichi as she was. Still though, it was not without reason. She had been given a mission. A mission that she herself chose.

She walked passed the gates, passed the guards who had let her through, and made a beeline for the Clan Head's tower.

* * *

><p>Shirou had thought that he had gotten accustomed to life in this new world, but now it would seem that he would have to revise his thoughts. Konoha for all respects and manors was far different from Uzu and it was not because of the terrain.<p>

When Konoha citizens looked at them, they viewed them as strangers; a group from the not very well known Uzu. It was true that many people knew of Uzu, but that did not mean that they knew of their customs, traditions, or way of life.

It could not be helped that they received stares as they made their way to the tower at the center of the village that Shizuka had called the Hokage Tower. Stares that may not always have been the most welcoming; Konoha was in a time of war.

"Everyone stay close." Shizuka said as they arrived in front of the Hokage Tower. "And remember-"

Mei, who had been trailing to the group's right moved up to Shizuka and spoke a few words before returning to her position.

Shizuka's face contorted into a pout before she sighed and un-clenched her clenched fist.

They made their way into the Hokage Tower and were lead to an entrance with large double doors.

The receptionist who had lead them there, nodded at Shizuka and Shizuka opened the door.

Inside the room was a single man with a bandage that surrounded half of his face that had an x-shaped scar on his chin. He held within his left hand a cane; the rest of his attire being a white shirt, with a dark grey robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder. This man is named Danzo Shimura an elder of Konohagakure.

Danzo's eyes narrowed as he stared at the group that had arrived.

"I believe the letter specified that it was only to be one shinobi that would arrive today." Danzo said as he moved to stand in front of the Hokage's desk.

"It must have been read wrong then." Shizuka said as she puffed up her cheeks and turned to the side while quietly muttering to herself.

"Perhaps I was a fool to believe that Uzu had the capability of proper knowledge so as to infer the meaning of words." Shizuka snapped her head to face Danzo in anger.

Danzo stared from Shizuka, to Mei, to, Haru, to Reiko, and finally stopped on Shirou. He eyed Shirou up and down as a description began recounting itself within his mind.

"I see however that you have brought the intended individual." Danzo moved toward Shirou as Shizuka stared warily at the situation even as her building anger compelled her to act. "Shirou Uzumaki, yes?"

"Yes." Shirou said as Shizuka stepped protectively in front of him, not liking the way Danzo was staring at him as if to gauge his abilities.

"Come, there is a special unit that I would like to incorporate you into." Danzo said as he acted as if Shizuka wasn't even standing in front of him. "That was the intended purpose of the letter."

"Letter?" Shirou asked confusedly.

Danzo stared into Shizuka's eyes as he looked at her with distaste. Shizuka stared defiantly back, tensing her body as she did so.

"To think that not only have you inferred the meaning of the letter wrong, but to not have informed the intended individual either. Is Uzu really a place of seal masters? Or is the title simply a guise to elude others away from seeing what Uzu truly is; a village of half-wits."

Shizuka exploded as she grabbed Danzo by the collar of his white shirt and lifted him up into the air; her companions not raising a complaint with her actions.

"You bastard! Take that back!"

Danzo remained silent as he looked down on Shizuka; watching as she raised a fist into the air. As she was about to punch however, Shirou beat her too it; punching Danzo in the face and breaking the grip Shizuka had on Danzo's collar, sending him flying.

"Mission complete, I've punched the Hokage in the face." Shirou said as the others stared blankly at him before Shizuka's face erupted into a smile.

"That's my boy!" Shizuka said as she ruffled Shirou's red hair.

In a rush of wind, an old man suddenly appeared within the room.

"Punched the Hokage you say?" The old man said as he brushed his finger over his goatee growing on his chin. "You're years to early to be able to do that young one."

"Who are you?" Reiko asked in curiosity.

"Me? I'm the Hokage of Konohagakure, Hiruzen Sarutobi."

"T-Then w-who was t-that?" Haru pointed over to where Danzo had landed, only to find that the man in question was not there.

"Who?" Hiruzen asked.

"A man with an x-shaped scar on his chin." Shizuka said as her complexion reflected off her built up rage.

"Danzo..." Hiruzan said lowly such that no one heard him. He turned to face the group of Uzu shinobi and took a good look at each of them.

"So what brings a group of Uzu-shinobi to Konoha?" Hiruzen asked as he sat on his desk.

"You mean you, the Hokage doesn't know?" Mei said.

"I have yet to be informed of such a matter."

Shizuka began trembling as she stared at the letter that she kept hidden within her shinobi pouch.

"You mean that it was not you who signed this." Shizuka tossed the letter sent over to Uzu to Hiruzen.

Catching it, Hiruzen quickly went over its contents. By the end of it, Hiruzen scowled in distaste.

"No. It was not me who signed this." Hiruzen said as he stood up and walked over to Shizuka. "It would seem that my village has caused you trouble; you have my deepest apologies."

"It's fine." Shizuka said. "But as of right now we do not have enough supplies left to return to Uzu; we were planning to stay in Konoha for awhile so we packed light."

"You shall be reimbursed then. For the time being I will prepare an area for you all to stay."

"Thank you." Shizuka said.

* * *

><p>A vast army of Iwa shinobi moved across the plains of Kusagakure, the Hidden Grass Village on their way to Konoha's borders.<p>

Iwa knew that a third war was coming and as such had chosen to strike first before others can strike at them. Many of the shinobi that consisted of the Iwa army were trained and experienced veterans of war. They had what it took to survive and carry out given missions. They were a unit of the best. It was only right that they be sent as a vanguard to show off Iwa's offensive ability.

The army advanced over Kannabi Bridge and pushed forth in the direction of Konoha's borders.

* * *

><p>Kushina did not know what to think when she watched Minato Namikaze, the boy who had saved her from Kumo walking along side a girl who can be said to be absolutely stunning. The pale skinned young girl had long black hair that was held up by a blue head band tied around her forehead. Her figure was sleek and she wore a white kimono.<p>

A bitter feeling began welling up inside her as she mentally began comparing herself to said girl. She knew that she was beautiful, but the girl standing next to Minato was even more so. Then again, she didn't think that Minato was in to small children; for the girl was no older than eight.

She sighed. Lately she's been all jumpy and fidgety around Minato and she did not know why; it was driving her mad.

She tailed Minato and the girl; watching as the girl seemed to be asking for directions. Eventually, they ended up near her apartment by Hiragi street.

As Kushina was hiding behind a building, another pair of eyes zeroed in on her.

With a predatory gait and eyes that gleamed with the light of the sun, it pounced on the unsuspecting Kushina.

"My baby!" Shizuka yelled as she jumped on Kushina, making them fall over on the road; causing a disruption that gained Minato's attention as he began to walk over with the girl beside him.

Kushina upon noticing this development began attempting to struggle out of Shizuka's arms; not yet realizing who it was that was hugging her due to her need to flee. She stopped struggling however, when she realized that escape was impossible and turned angrily towards her attacker; only to reel back in surprise.

"Mother?"

* * *

><p>Sorry for the late update, there were many tests before the holiday. I know the chapter was short, and it is because I wanted to post right away to show that I'm still alive and kicking. Well, hope you enjoyed it.<p>

**Special thanks to souvikkundu0017 for providing me with the information necessary to write this story.**


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